


The Mummer's Dragon

by WriterWolfe618



Series: A Dragon and Wolf in Exile [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV), Game of Thrones (Video Game 2014)
Genre: F/M, Jonerys, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, R Plus L Equals J
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-07-15 08:09:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 39,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16059047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterWolfe618/pseuds/WriterWolfe618
Summary: Even with dragons, the secrets of Old Valyria, and the Iron Bank, Jaehaerys and Daenerys Targaryen still face grave threats. As lies and truths are revealed, loyalties are put to the test as the world prepares itself for another Dance with Dragons.





	1. Dragon's Birth

**Author's Note:**

> Here is part 2. I hope you enjoy it.

JAEHAERYS

As the flames began to die down around Jaehaerys Targaryen, the young king barely managed to pull himself out of the hole he was previously trapped in. As he gulped in the somewhat cleaner air, he started to hear the sounds of chirping, as well as scratching on stone behind him. Jae turned around and bent over the hole to see the emerald and bronze dragon trying to climb up the smooth stone walls, before turning in short circles. Suddenly the dragon stopped and looked up at Jae, amber eyes meeting indigo as a wave of emotions passed through his mind. The feeling was similar to when he warged into Ghost, so he reached out with his mind and felt the source of the emotions and could even feel some sort of thoughts coming from the dragon. He quickly withdrew his mind before extending his arm to let the green dragon quickly jump up and climb up him.

For whatever reason, the dragon that was resting upon his shoulders was at least two, if not three, times larger than the egg it had previously resided in. That thought was pushed from Jae's mind when he looked around to see both Dany and Rhaenyra each holding a dragon in their arms. Daenerys' dragon was black with red scales, while Nyra's was a creamy white with gold scales. Both were of a similar size to Jae's dragon. As Jae made his way over to the two, he noticed that the three of them were completely nude and hairless. He also could hear the whispered mutterings of a group of people around them, so he quickly moved to stand in between the voices and their bodies. The three were speechless, just staring at the three dragons and at each other. When the smoke around them cleared, they could see that most of the crowd were on their knees, though some didn't seem to have chosen to do so.

Jae could see both Arthur and Aedric had their hands tied behind their back with their mouths gagged. A few more Roses were in a similar predicament as well. Standing above them were the slave soldiers of the Fiery Hand, their spears at the kneeling men's backs. Both Jae and his dragon started to growl at the site of this and began to walk towards them. As his form became clearer through the smoke, the soldiers of the Fiery Hand all took a knee, except for three of them who quickly handed the three Targaryens some clothes to put on. Jae quickly walked over to Aedric and Arthur, pulling the gags out of their mouths and untying their wrists. Aedric spat out,

"The Red Priestess. She did this."

Jae turned to look at Kinvara, who was also on her knees before them. It was Dany who called out,

"Is this true, Lady Kinvara?"

Kinvara nodded once as she rose from the hard stone floor, brushing some dust off of her red robes. She faced the three head on, ignoring the gasps and shouts. Rhaenyra asked,

"How and why would you do such a thing?"

"I did so because you must unite your kingdoms together as soon as possible so that you may be better prepared for the oncoming darkness. Only the strongest flames can hope to destroy the Great Other, and dragons are fire made flesh," Kinvara replied, "As to how, it was quite simple. The castle we are in is called Dragon's Birth in the common tongue, and it was the sole place where your ancestors would go to in order to hatch their dragons. This place was built upon one of the fourteen fires of Old Valyria. You will soon find that the three dragons we have hatched here will be much more powerful than any of those hatched in Westeros. So I waited until you passed your individual challenges and opened the gates for the rest of us, before bringing your unconscious bodies here to the ritual chamber. I used the spells I had brought from the temple, and you three were reborn in the flames as the new Dragonlords of Old Valyria."

Jae was silent for a few minutes, his gaze alternating between his dragon, the priestess before him, and his wife and Rhaenyra. He looked the Red Priestess in the eye and spoke in a clear voice that echoed through the courtyard,

"Thank you for your aid in hatching this dragons, Lady Kinvara. However, you did so behind our backs, without our consent or knowledge, and risked our lives. Therefore you and your men will leave this island at once, with no reward or payment. If I ever see you again, you will burn for endangering my family."

Kinvara smiled and nodded before giving a low bow as she and her men started to walk away. Her voice was just a melodic and poisonous as before,

"Our reward is the comfort in knowing that R'hllors champions have been freed from their sleep of stone and time. If I may give one last piece of advice in regards to your agreement with the Iron Bank, it is this. While the gems and other valuables should be enough to appease the bankers and then some, the true treasure of this place is the knowledge that was stored here.. It would be wise to keep that amongst those you trust, and not to offer it as payment for the debt."

With that Kinvara turned and continued to walk away, with the Fiery Hand close behind. Many of the Roses were glaring at their backs, Aedric included before he shrugged his shoulders and started calling out,

"Alright, that's that, now let's get to packing all this shit up for the journey home. Come on, you've all seen plenty of paintings of dragons, the live ones aren't that different. We can all drool over them later."

Jae gave a chuckle before moving to assist the men. He made a few steps towards them when suddenly his wife's hand shot out and pressed against his chest. He looked at her in confusion as she stared at him like she was trying to memorize his face. Then her mouth was upon his with a kiss that burned hotter than the flames he had just sat in. The courtyard and the people in it all faded into the background as their embrace deepened. It was a few minutes later when they finally broke apart, panting heavily while their foreheads rested against each other. No words were needed as they looked each other in the eyes. A sudden series of concerned chirps broke their concentration, and they gazed down at their two dragons. They both were looking up them but with their heads tilted to the side.

All in all, even not including the dragons, they found treasure beyond anyone's wildest imagination. There were dozens of chests and barrels full of priceless gems and jewelry. Dany and Rhaenyra found three different armories with a wide assortment of weapons and armor, most of them made of Valyrian Steel. However, Lady Kinvara was right in saying that the castle's true treasure was its massive library. Jae could have sworn that Rhaenyra started to jump up and down when she entered the entire building dedicated to holding the books and scrolls. When she started to inspect them, she did actually start bouncing and squealing in delight. In whatever way they had created and stored the books and scrolls, a vast majority of them were still in readable condition. One of the main subjects of the literature they found had to do with raising and how to train their dragons, although there were plenty of other subjects as well.

It took them the better part of a week to safely transport everything down from the castle onto and the beach and into the waiting ships. Thankfully Lady Kinvara had left almost all of the ships that joined them in Volantis, so there was just enough space to bring all of the treasure onboard. A strange fog started to appear on the day of their departure and quickly enveloped the castle above them. As they sailed away, the fog disappeared, but so did Zaldrizes' Sikagaon.

\--- --- ---

About a fortnight later found them still sailing up the coast towards Braavos. The four were all in Jae and Dany's cabin, and were watching the three dragons devour strip after strip of charred meat. Aedric spoke up,

"So can you tell me why you named your dragons those names again?

"Nyra and I named them after the dragons our namesakes rode, Vermithor being mine and Syrax being hers. Dany named hers Vhagar, after Visenya's dragon."

"That makes sense, I suppose. It wasn't like you had planned to hatch those dragons and had any names prepared for them. What does not make sense is how fast your hair is all growing back."

Aedric had a point, their hair was growing back at an alarmingly fast rate. It had been almost a month and their eyebrows had mostly returned and the hair on their scalp was discernible. Jae guessed that all of their hair would return by the time they reached Braavos, not that it really mattered to any of them. At the moment, Rhaenyra quickly snapped her book shut and stood up. Everyone in the room, the dragons included, looked over at her in surprise.

"Is everything all right, Nyra?" asked Aedric.

"Yes, well no, I mean maybe it might not be after, it's just that," she paused and slowed her breathing before continuing, "We need to talk, there's something I need to tell you all. It's something I should have told you years ago, when we all first met really, but I was so relieved that I was safe and away and I didn't want to think about it. I had planned on telling you if something happened, but while we were in Valyria I realized I need to tell you now so that you're prepared. Just, please don't hate me."

Dany grabbed one hand and helped her sit down, while Syrax rested its head on her lap. Rhaenyra continued,

"I've told you all before that I have a twin brother. What I didn't tell you is what my father has been planning for him."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes as Rhaenyra finished her story, her head low and not looking anyone in the eye. Jae blinked a few times before speaking up,

"So you're saying that your father is planning on fooling the world into believing that your twin is my older brother? Aegon died in Kings Landing, why would anyone believe him?"

"I think that the real Aegon was smuggled out during the Sack, and was sent to my father for some reason. However, I believe my father got rid of him somehow, and raised my brother in his place. He even named him Aegon."

"Do you have any proof?" asked Dany.

She nodded before replying,

"I copied a few pages out of his journal where he talked about how he was finally able to put my mother's blood on the Iron Throne, and that his friend in Westeros still believed the child was of pure Targaryen blood."

"Were you ever going to tell us?"

"Of course I was, I told you that already. It's just that, he was just one magister, and even though I barely know him, he's still my brother. I was worried you would throw me out or something. I'm sorry."

Jae and Dany exchanged solemn looks before looking back at Rhaenyra. Dany said,

"Nyra, you're family. We would never abandon you or throw you out."

"You mean that? You forgive me?"

Aedric pulled her into a big hug before answering,

"There's nothing to forgive, you were just trying to protect your brother. I promise you, we will do our best to help him as well, right Jae?"

"Of course. He might not be my brother, but he is my cousin, just as you are Nyra."

Another few weeks passed by since their conversation without incident. Jae and Aedric were above deck, sparring with Blackfyre and Brightroar respectively. After a few minutes they took a break and grabbed some water skins before leaning against the railing. Jae panted out,

"I still can't believe you found that blade and the journal."

"I think dragons are the most unbelievable thing we found, but this is pretty cool for me. The blade is pretty nice, but I'm not a fan of the hilt. Too many lions, you know?"

"You can have one made for yourself, but don't throw away that one, I have an idea for it and the journal. How do you think the people of Westeros would react about House Lannister if the contents of that journal, especially the events concerning the Sack, were to become public knowledge, Uncle Arthur?"

The Kingsguard cleared his throat and stepped forward before responding,

"Dorne is already on our side, but if the Crownlands were to learn of this, there would be riots everywhere. the smallfolk loved your father and would eagerly accept this as truth. The noble lords might be a bit more hesitant, but it would certainly deliver quite the blow to House Lannister's reputation."

The rest of the return trip continued without anything interesting happening. Before nearing Braavos, the three Targaryens, their dragons, Aedric, and Ser Arthur all got off early onto the nearby coast. They made their way to the captured fort, surprising al the Roses there, before being pleasantly surprised by everyone who came down from Braavos to greet them.

\--- --- ---

"Well you were gone almost ten months, I honestly was expecting to be greeting my grandchild when you came back. Instead I am looking at an actual dragon." said Lyanna.

"This wasn't the plan, obviously," Jae replied, "But it is a rather pleasant and beneficial surprise."

Lyanna nodded absentmindedly as she patted Vermithor on its head. She had no Valyrian blood, but the dragon could somehow tell she was important to those who did, at least that is what Jae could come up with. The reaction of his direwolf Ghost was by far the most comical. When the white direwolf had come face to face with the green dragon that was close to his size, he had leapt almost ten feet straight up into the air. Since then Ghost had kept a healthy distance, but Jae was hoping that would change. Lord Tyrion chuckled before saying,

"This almost makes me regret killing my father. I would have liked to see the look on his face when he learned of what was coming for him."

"I imagine he would look similar to how your sister will look when she hears of this." remarked Oberyn.

"That day will come, but not yet. We still need to make plans and recruit more allies before we sail for Westeros." said Daenerys.

Robb cleared his throat and leaned forward from where he was resting before saying,

"You can count on the loyalty of House Stark and those loyal to us for whatever it is worth, your Graces." I do not know why my father did not tell any of us about you or why he continued to serve King Robert, but I will gladly help what little family I have left these days. All I ask for is the heads of Roose Bolton and Walder Frey."

Before Jae or Dany could reply, Arya stepped up and added,

"I have a few names I would like to add to that list, but until then a ride on one of your dragons would be nice."

Jae laughed and answered,

"We'll see about that when they get a little older. In the meantime, you are both family and you are safe here."

"That might not last as long as you may hope it to last, thanks to my father and his changing loyalties." muttered Arianne.

"I do not understand why Uncle Doran acted as he did," said Jae, "But thankfully we were aware of this pretender, albeit recently, and can react accordingly."

He glanced over at Rhaenyra and smiled before nodding. Jae did not blame her for what she did not tell them, and thankfully it appeared that nobody else did either. It was Ser Barristan who approached next. He stared at Jae for a long time before taking out his sword and kneeling before him.

"I failed your father and betrayed your House when I bent the knee to the Usurper. Had I even heard a whisper of either of your existences, I would have gladly given my life for you. All I can offer now is my deepest apologies and the request to join your Kingsguard to redeem myself."

"Rise, Ser Barristan, there's nothing to forgive. The lies and secrets to hide us away worked a little too well in that regard, but none of it was your fault. As to your request, I have no Kingsguard, but my wife the Queen and I do have a Crownsguard that is in need of more members. You would serve us both equally, if that is something you can agree to."

"Gladly."

After the old knight completed his vows, Aedric said,

"Great, so now that all our hellos and greetings are taken care of, can we get back to how we are going to deal with Rhaenyra's brother?"

"I do have a plan for that, cousin. If you all would step closer and listen carefully ..."

\--- --- ---

"I must say, King Jaehaerys, I am simply amazed that you managed to procure such a wealthy amount of treasure. How did you ever accomplish such a feat?"

"With a whole lot of luck, good planning, and help from the gods themselves probably, Lord Nestoris. Regardless we have held up to our end of the bargain, so do we have a deal?"

Tycho Nestoris extended his hand and Jae shook it firmly.

"You can count on the Iron Bank. Now onto our actively endeavoring. Nearly all of the leaders of the various sellsword companies are here and are willing to meet with you to discuss terms. However, there are special circumstances in regards to the Golden Company."

"What sort of circumstances?" asked Dany.

"Currently they are under a lengthy contract involving the defense of Slaver's Bay from a nearby Dothraki Khalasar. Captain Strickland has requested that you meet with him in Meereen to discuss how to break their contract."

Jae was silent as he and Dany stared at each other before he answered,

"An odd request, but the Gold Company should be well worth the extra travel."

"Splendid. We do have two junior members of the Company who wish to join you and serve as liaisons between you and the Golden Company before you meet up."

With that, two men, one older and one younger, walked into the room. As they drew closer, both Ser Barristan and Ser Arthur gasped in shock. The older man, who had red hair with streaks of grey also had a look of surprise on his face as well. The younger man, who strangely enough had blue hair, seemed surprised too. Tycho swept his hand towards them and said,

"King Jaehaerys, meet Jon Connington, formerly of Griffon's Roost, and his young son, Gryff."


	2. Wings of Silver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth behind the Sack of Kings Landing, and a fight between "brothers"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is Chapter 2. Hope you like it.

AEDRIC

"So what exactly are we looking for here, Nyra?"

"Wings of silver. That's what the spirit said to look for when we were in Valyria. They said to look at the docks so maybe it's the name of a ship?"

"How exactly is one ship going to help us convince Doran and House Tyrell that they are backing the wrong guy?"

She shrugged her shoulders before continuing to press forward with Aedric close behind her. He found himself growling like Blizzard when some dock worker got a little too close. The sea air, smells of fish, and the sound of multiple languages swirled around them, and Aedric had to use the scent of Nyra's perfume to anchor him. She was silent, but he could see her hand tapping a beat on her thigh, so he waited. After a minute or two of searching, they stopped and Nyra spoke up,

"So, when do you think Prince Oberyn is going to stop glaring at me every time we are in the same room?"

"Not too long, once he gets to know you, he'll warm up. He's not quick to trust strangers. Hell, it took Jae years before Oberyn stopped looking at him as just a tool for vengeance, but you'll be fine."

Rhaenyra's eyebrows raised as she turned and asked,

"I thought he and Prince Oberyn were closer, that Jae calls him Uncle because Prince Oberyn demanding it."

"Not at first. Sure they offered us sanctuary in the Water Gardens, and didn't blame him or Aunt Lyanna for what happened, but that didn't come without a cost. Jae spent day and night trapped in his studies and lessons with Uncle Doran, and martial training with Uncle Oberyn, Uncle Arthur, and even Uncle Benjen. Dany and I had a little more freedom, but she had a lot of lessons as well. Jae hated it, but Oberyn and Doran didn't care."

"What changed?"

It was Aedric's turn to laugh as the memory came back to him.

"Jae was almost eight when he finally had enough, so he packed his bags and made it halfway to Oldtown before Uncle Oberyn and Uncle Arthur. The two spent a lot of time talking on the ride back, and every since then, Uncle Oberyn starting treating Jae more like a nephew, even going against Uncle Doran sometimes."

Rhaenyra smiled at that, before frowning and asking,

"Where were you during this?"

"At Jae's side, where else? We were going on an adventure, so of course I wanted to follow him."

Rhaenyra's laughter sang through the docks, and Aedric wished he could hear nothing else. Their eyes connected and stayed there for a brief moment before Rhaenyra looked away and said in a quiet voice,

"What happened between you and Tyene Sand?"

"What do you mean?"

Nyra shifted around before looking up and saying in a more confident tone,

"I saw the way she was looking at you and heard what she was saying."

Aedric threw up his hands and said,

"You found out my secret. When I was just eleven we married at the Water Gardens. I wonder if she brought all of our dozen children with her."

"Aedric."

"We kissed once when we were children as a game, nothing more. Tyene flirts with everyone, it's how she lowers their guard before she strikes. She would have done the same with Jae if it wasn't for Dany and her dragon being so near."

"She is quite comely though."

Aedric sighed and grabbed her chin, turning her to look him straight in the face.

"You could be old and wrinkled, and she could be naked and young," said Aedric, "And I'd still only have eyes for you."

She gave a small smile, one that reached her eyes. Her voice was soft, but hopeful.

"Bold words to say, and even harder to stand by."

"I am a Stark, my word is my bond. Choosing you is no choice at all, ... Silverwing."

"An odd nickname to be called, but I can see the similarities between Syrax and I ..."

Aedric cut her off and turned her around before pointing at an old ship nearby.

"Not you, the ship is named the Silverwing, like your spirit vision thing said."

"I do wish they spoke a bit plainer, but who knows how simpler things might be if prophecies were simple as well. Hang on, that ship looks familiar."

They began to walk down the docks, moving closer. After a moment of muttering, Rhaenyra started speaking up,

"The ship is Pentoshi by design, what with the sails and the way the rigging is set up, but it also seems Westerosi as well. What do you think Aedric?"

"I think we need to talk to the captain and crew to see if they were in Kings Landing during the Sack."

ARTHUR

Arthur barely contained a smirk of pride as Jaehaerys swept the legs of the boy called Gryff out from under him. To his credit, the lad made his way up to his feet fairly quickly, but it was clear Jaehaerys let him. Then again, this was supposed to be a friendly spar. Lord Rooster however seemed to be seconds away from jumping into the ring in defense of his son. Arthur decided to ruffle the feathers of his old friend to see if anything of use came from it. He cleared his throat and said,

"Your son certainly knows how to take a hit, Jon."

As expected, the man's fist clenched and he gritted out,

"It was a most dishonorable attack made by that, the king."

Arthur shrugged, and continued to lean forward and say to Jon and Ser Barristan,

"We're not in Westeros, and the King did not grow up in the Red Keep. When we taught him to fight, we taught him to win. If you wish to cling closer to honor than common sense, you might have more in common with the late Ned Stark than you think."

That set him off, and Connington spun around to his at Arthur,

"I'd rather be a bastard than be anything like that fucking dog or his family."

It was the movement of Arthur's hand going to the hilt of Dawn that froze Connington's mouth. He knew Arthur only touched his blade when he meant to draw it. Arthur's voice was low and quiet,

"You would be wise to not say anything that could be seen as an insult towards King Jaehaerys' family. Her Grace is the Queen Mother, and you will make sure everyone of your actions shows her and the Starks the proper respect."

"Elia was the Queen, not her."

"They were both the Queen, Jon. We showed you the papers. Elia was in agreement with this, you heard Oberyn confirm it as well."

"Rhaegar would have told me of something of this magnitude."

Before Arthur could respond, it was Oberyn who showed up behind them and said,

"Perhaps your Prince did not trust you as much as you thought he did."

"I was, I am one of Rhaegar's most loyal men. I have always been. There is nothing I would not do to see Rhaegar's son sit upon the Iron Throne. I failed the father. I will not fail the son."

With that Jon Connington stormed off but stopped at the call of his name by Arthur.

"I am glad to know we are both on the same side, Jon, like old times. However I want to make one thing very clear. If I start to think for even one second that any of your actions or behaviors toward King Jaehaerys are anything less than pure or honorable, I will not hesitate to kill you and your son."

Obviously shaken by the absolute promise in the eyes of the Sword of the Morning, Connington quickly moved away. Oberyn chuckled and moved in between the two Crownsguard to gaze at Jaehaerys and Gryff still sparring. He glared daggers at the pretender and said rather calmly,

"I don't know why we are not just killing this pretender and that Rooster now. I could do it tonight and no one would know."

Arthur shook his head, but it was Ser Barristan who responded,

"The King and Queen ordered him not to be harmed. It is their decision and it has been made."

"I recognize that a decision has been made, but seeing as it is a rather foolish one, I'd like to know why."

"Regardless of what he is trying to do, he is still Rhaenyra's brother, and Jaehaerys made a promise to try and save him. He hopes to first befriend him and gain his trust before telling him the truth to get him to back away from the claim he thinks he has."

As usual, Oberyn went straight for the jugular, giving voice to the thoughts that had plagued Arthur's mind for the past few nights.

"And what happens if they do become friends, but neither steps away from their claims? There can be only one King, and the Seven Kingdoms cannot survive many more wars, let alone another Dance."

JAEHAERYS

Gryff certainly was skilled with the slightly curved scimitar he wielded. However his glaring weakness was that he expected this to be a fair fight. Jae didn't, so he was surprised when he saw so many openings, but didn't hesitate to exploit them. The match finally ended when Jae kicked some dirt up, causing Gryff to flinch, and left his right side open for a quick slash and jab. He groaned and called out to surrender. The two walked out of the training ring to clean their equipment. After a minute, Jae asked,

"Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I had two teachers, one was a Tyroshi fighter, and the other a Westeros hedge knight."

Jae nodded and said,

"I thought your form looked familiar, but with a bit of a flair to it. It's a good style, not many soldiers from Westeros will know how to defend themselves from it."

Gryff smirked as he replied,

"That was my answer when my father began to complain that I wasn't training like a true Westerosi."

"Well your father is from Westeros, but your mother, I'm guessing that she was Tyroshi, right?"

There was a small flicker of annoyance and surprise, but Gryff managed to mask it well. Jae still noticed it, but said nothing and listened.

"What makes you say that?"

Jae pointed to his hair and said,

"Most people of Tyrosh dye their hair blue, in honor of some custom I can't recall right now. Although you do have some Dornish looks as well."

"You have a sharp eye. You're right, my mother was of Dornish decent, her father was a merchant who visited Tyrosh most frequently," replied Gryff before continuing, "You know, I am a bit surprised at your fighting style as well. It seems quite odd that Ser Arthur would teach you to fight in such a dishonorable manner."

It was Jae's turn to give a smirk as he shrugged and answered,

"My uncle wasn't my only teacher, and besides, I learned how to win fights. You know, I was wondering why you and your father were here, instead of with the rest of the Golden Company in Meereen. Is there a reason for that?"

"Yes actually, we were just in Pentos with an old friend of my father. My wife and I were enjoying some time off, something I'm sure you and the Queen did as well."

"You're married?"

"Yes, to a beautiful girl from the Reach."

"That's wonderful, you should bring her here. I'm sure she would love to spend time with other ladies of Westeros."

Gryff held up his hands and shook his head.

"She's where she belongs. Besides, before we came here, she told me that she may be with child already. Speaking of, are you and the Queen expecting an heir anytime soon?"

Jae stiffend and stood up,

"No we are not, but I must offer my sincere congratulations. My wife and I have decided to wait before having a child, seeing as we are trying to regain our families throne. Besides, it is hard to ride a dragon when you are carrying a child. Anyway, your quarters will be prepared for you soon, but I must go. We will all talk tomorrow about the logistics of gathering the rest of the Golden Company."

Gryff nodded, and strode away. Jae waited until he could no longer see him in the dying light before he motioned for Oberyn and Ser Arthur to step out of the shadows behind him. He stared for a few minutes before speaking in a quiet tone,

"I want eyes and ears on him and Lord Connington at all times. Everything there is to know about the both of them, I want to know, as does Daenerys. If they try to betray us, kill Connington if you must, but only subdue my cousin."

"Yes your Grace. By the way, Lord Robb has requested to speak with you."

"I will speak with hm after I meet with my wife, there is something I must discuss with her first. You are dismissed."

With that, Jae began to make his way through the captured fortress, now called Dragon's Rose. They had been staying here for the most part, seeing as it was the best place to house their dragons, who were growing larger each day. Vermithor reached the middle of his thigh. He wished Rhaenyra could watch Syrax grow, but they needed the image of an extra dragon, so to speak, to keep Aegon's attention on them. She and Aedric were busy looking for proof of her brother's lies to show to Doran and House Tyrell, but their mission was going to have to change. When he made it to his and Dany's chambers, he could hear voices coming from within, with Ser Barristan standing watch outside. Jae knocked before stepping inside to see his wife, Arianne, and his cousin Arya sitting and talking. Dany and Ari were sitting at the small table, while Arya was leaning against the wall, holding a water dancer's blade. Dany looked up and smiled.

"Jae come in! Arya and I were just discussing our favorite dancing instructor, Syrio."

"Right, he went to Kings Landing. I almost forgot."

Arya spoke up,

"No you didn't forget. Daenerys told me just a minute ago that you sent him there to spy on us."

"Not spy, but rather look out for, and to keep us informed on what was happening. Anyway, I have some things I need to discuss with my wife and Princess Arianne, so if you would please excuse us, Lady Arya."

"I'm not a lady," she retorted, "But I'll go. Maybe we could see which one of us is the better water dancer tomorrow Daenerys, if that's alright?"

After Dany agreed, Jae's cousin sprang up and darted off, leaving the room in chuckles. That changed when they saw Jae's face. Arianne asked,

"What is it your Grace?"

"Call me Jae or Jaehaerys, Ari. We've known each other long enough, you're practically my big sister. Anyway, I spoke with Gryff, I mean Aegon, and he revealed some good and bad news, though I don't know if it was on purpose or not."

He sat down and quickly downed a glass of wine before continuing,

"It would appear that Lady Margaery is here in Pentos, and that she may be with child."

The room was silent for a moment before Daenerys spoke up,

"We can't let this opportunity slip past us. If we can get to Lady Margaery and convince her of the truth, then she could tell her family."

"You're right Dany. You should have someone go to Pentos right away." said Arianne.

"Aedric and Rhaenyra will go there. Tell Nymeria to leave for Braavos now and inform them of the change in plans."

RHAENYRA

Rhaenrys starred in pity at the old broken man before here and Aedric. Sure enough, it had only taken a minute or so of asking questions aboard the Silverwing before they found him, a bastard from the Crownlands. He accepted the stiff drink and large pouch of coins eagerly from Aedric, and began to tell his story.

"I was a loyal supporter of the Prince, he helped me get my first ship, this ship, in thanks for my discretion. He had gone down to the docks to play his harp for the people, and I recognized him, but said nothing. I spent quite some time between Kings Landing and Pentos, so Lord Varys the Spider would often use my ship as a means to ferry messages between him and his informant, a magister named Illyrio Mopatis, on things happening in Essos. I was in Pentos before the Sack, when I got a message from Lord Varys to come back and smuggle some precious cargo from the capitol to Illyrio. But then, Illyrio came and told me that the precious cargo was in fact, the Crown Prince Aegon. However, he said that I was to be receiving a decoy prince, and I was to get rid of it in order to throw any pursuers off of our trail. He promised that the real Aegon was safely smuggled away on a different boat, but he lied to me, and he lied to Lord Varys as well. I know that now. The babe the Spider handed to me at the docks the night before the Sack, the babe I tossed into the middle of the Narrow Sea, that was the real Aegon Targaryen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like it let me know, comments are awesome.  
> If you hate me or my work, that's cool I'm not writing this for you.


	3. The North Remembers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth about what happened with Ned Stark at Starfall, the Game of Thrones loses a major player but gains another, and a little lord stays up past his bedtime to hear some surprising news

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I need to put this out there just in case the torches and pitchforks come at me  
> For all that love Ned Stark, this might not be your favorite chapter. We are all human, Ned Stark included, and that means making mistakes. Just wanted to say that before you read

ROBB

Robb Stark woke up with a muffled scream. Once again, the look of fear and pain upon Talisa's face, and her scream haunted his nights and days. He had been kneeling in a pool of blood that came from her when Greywind, Uncle Brynden, and the Hound had come crashing into the main hall and dragged him out. He could only watch as his faithful companion was shot full of arrows as he held the pursuers off, and could do nothing when someone slit his mother's throat. He couldn't feel much after that, at least not until he tripped and fell. When those wagon wheels had rolled over his outstretched hand, all he could feel was pain.

It had been well over a year and a half since then, and for the most part his hand was healed. He had learned to fight with his left hand as best he could, with the grumbling help of Sandor Clegane, but he was still comfortable with his right hand, and wished he was fully healed. Hopefully he could still be of use somehow, and for that reason he was waiting to be admitted to his cousin, the King's office. It had been awhile, and Robb was beginning to think that his cousin was trying to avoid him.

Just then, the Queen opened the door and stepped out. Robb noticed her hair was a bit messed up, and her skirts were rumpled, but Robb said nothing as she quickly straightened her dress and nodded in greeting.

"Lord Robb, my husband can see you now. Ser Barristan, I need to speak with Princess Arianne, can you escort me to her?"

As the Queen and Ser Barristan left, Robb and Ser Arthur stepped in. The room was sparsely decorated, with a large table and chairs the only real furniture. Jaehaerys was standing over a map of Essos, peering at it intently, but he looked up and gave a polite smile. He gestured to a small platter of food and a clay pitcher before saying,

"Hello cousin. I'm sorry to keep you waiting, but I had, an important matter to discuss with the Queen. Anyway, please sit and eat. I'm told you have something to ask of me?"

Robb's hand shook a little when he grasped the pitcher to pour himself a glass of cool water, but he ignored the small bit of pain. He took a drink, then sat up and said,

"I would like to join you on your journey to Meereen, your Grace."

The King was quiet as he leaned back and stared at him for a few silent minutes. He then asked him,

"Has your hand healed enough that you are ready to fight?"

"Yes, your Grace, I am."

"Good, in that case you will spar with Ser Arthur tomorrow morning. If you can beat him, or at least give him a challenge, then you may join us."

Robb's eyes were wide with shock, and he sputtered out,

"But he's the Sword of the Morning! I can't possibly hope to defeat him!"

Jaehaerys gave a small smile as he shook his head and said,

"Then you will be staying here. In all likelihood I am going to be walking into some sort of trap, and I need men and women around me who are confident enough and willing to cross blades with the best. Besides, having you here and safe will help us tremendously when we take back Winterfell. I imagine the Northern Lords will be much more susceptible to bending the knee to a Targaryen King and Queen if they help bring back their rightful ruler, no?'

"If they even want me or any Stark back."

"They will, trust me. I have a small force already in the North, and the reports they are sending us about the Boltons are disturbing and nightmarish to say the least."

"But I broke my oath. I turned my back on my duty to my bannermen."

"We are all human, and we make mistakes, but love shouldn't be considered a mistake. It may not have been the smartest thing to do, but I can understand why my parents chose love over duty. Daenerys and I did the same."

Robb frowned in confusion.

"How so?"

"A few years after we arrived in Essos, an opportunity arose that would enable us to come back home, and even give us a chance to take the throne from the Usurper. All it would take was Dany and I each marrying someone else. We both had feelings for each other even then, but we knew what our duty was, what we should do. But I was in love with her, as I soon realized, and she realized she was in love with me as well. So we ignored the opportunity, and chos each other. I knew it made the chance of coming home so much harder, but I knew that it would be ..."

"Worth it if she was at your side." finished Robb.

His cousin smiled and nodded before taking a sip and saying,

"Exactly. You know you can ask the question if you want."

"What do you mean?"

"The question you've been dying to ask of me since we met. Go ahead Robb, ask it."

Robb adjusted in his chair before he looked the King in the eyes and asked,

"When my father was killed, and I declared war upon the Lannisters, why didn't you help us? I would have gladly accepted your claim to the Iron Throne, and my bannermen would have as well, simply because you were Lyanna's son. It would have made things a lot simpler and given the men something more to fight for. Why didn't you do anything?"

Robb watched as his cousin sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before glancing over at Ser Arthur and saying,

"It was a bit complicated, but it basically came down to two different reasons. The first was that I was not in charge of the Roses like I am today, and had little say on what contracts we took."

"And the second reason?"

The King looked him right in the eyes.

"We were worried that you were too much like your father."

"Why would you be worried about such a thing? My father was a good man, an honorable man!"

"Aye, he loved his honor so much that he abandoned my mother, his own sister, in favor of it."

"You're lying. If my father knew about you, he would have helped. You were family, you always help family, that's what he always said to me!"

"Well back then he didn't believe that for sure, because he was there when I was born and he still chose the Usurper."

"I don't believe you."

"You weren't there, and neither was I really, but Ser Arthur was. Why don't you tell Lord Robb what his father's great plan was."

The Sword of the Morning stepped forward into Robb's view and began to speak.

"After the King was born, we rode day and night to make to Starfall, where we were met by my sister and baby Aedric. Before we could even sit down to rest or have a warm meal, Lord Stark approached us with the most idiotic plan I had ever heard of. He wanted to send the King and my sister to Essos alone, and to take Aedric in as his own bastard. I was to join the Night's Watch, and he was planning on escorting his sister back to Robert so that they would marry. Obviously an argument broke out. Your father refused to acknowledge the Queen's marriage or accept your cousin's rightful claim, and continued to say that Robert was the King. When the screaming between he and Queen Lyanna escalated, Lord Stark snapped and said to her, 'You had your freedom, and father and Brandon paid the price for it. Now you will come and do your duty, so that their deaths because of you will not be in vain'. The look on her face was even more painful than when she learned of Prince Rhaegar's death. She rallied enough to land a solid punch upon his skull, and surprisingly knocked him out cold. She refused to wait for him to come to, and we left for Sunspear and the Water Gardens right away. Obviously he never betrayed us to the Usurper, but he left no doubt that if we tried to come back to Westeros, your father would have stood with Robert against us."

Robb felt sick to his stomach. The very thought that his father could have been so stupid, so cruel, shocked him into silence. After a few moments he felt a hand clasp his shoulder and another offer him a cup of some dark liquid. He welcomed the burning taste of the ale as it helped him refocus on the room. It was Jaehaerys who stood in front of him.

"I don't blame your father for that, not really. He was young, and had just learned that everything he believed in was based on a lie, so he tried to cling to the one thing that still made sense, duty and honor. I wish he had chosen family, but it's in the past. My mother was also at fault for leaving before discussing another option, but everyone was working on barely any sleep and little food. What I cannot forgive is when he turned his back on us again in White Harbor."

"What happened in White Harbor?" asked Robb, dreading the answer.

"After the attack on the Water Gardens by Euron, we first fled to the North for protection. We were at the docks about to get off the ship when your father showed up and forbade us from stepping foot on Northern soil. We had to continue on to Essos with barely any supplies because he wouldn't even let us restock in White Harbor."

Robb's eyes widened in shock as he spat out his drink and exclaimed,

"I remember that day. My father and I were in White Harbor because King Robert had mentioned wanting to visit us. My father was in a meeting with Lord Manderly when a messenger arrived. He quickly ran out and did not return for some time. When he did, he seemed so sad and angry, and refused to say why. King Robert ended up not visiting though."

He heard Jae curse under his breath but before he could say anything, Robb continued,

"But that is not excuse for his actions. He should have helped you no matter what. I think he regretted what he did, because he always would tell us to be loyal to our family no matter what. I am sorry for his actions."

"I don't blame you for your father's sins, Robb, so there is nothing to forgive. Anyway, there is something I need your help with while I am gone."

"Name it."

"Thank you. Now what I need is for you to start helping plan our conquest of Westeros. You were born there and you have quite frankly, a brilliant mind for strategy. Can you do that for us?"

Robb nodded, and soon began discussing troop numbers and potential strategies with his cousin. It felt good to be useful again.

SANSA

The new Lady of the Vale, Sansa Stark, couldn't help but feel impressed by the amount of political leverage and secrets the late Petyr Baelish had acquired over the years. It was one of the few things that she was grateful to have been given from him, although he did pay for it with his life. She could still picture the look on his face when all of his plans shattered into pieces thanks to her.

It had taken some time, but she managed to gain a loyal ally in Yohn Royce, an old friend of her real father. He already expected the worst of her late aunt's new husband, but was still shocked when he learned of the truth to her murder and Sansa's identity. He had quickly been sworn to secrecy, and began to start quietly bringing the other Lords of the Vale to her side. Her next ally was another one Littlefinger had unwittingly given to her, Harrold Harding, the prefered heir to the Vale and her now husband. Baelish had let it slip that Harry the Heir already had a few bastard children of his own, and was planning on using hem to manipulate the young lord, but Sansa beat him to it She did not truly care that her husband had already sired children, but she knew that if that knowledge were to become public, the scandal would ruin his reputation, and he knew it too. It was almost too easy to trap him to her side, and keep him there with the idea of being the King Consort of the North. Still, she could honestly say that their marriage was a better one than she expected it to be, and she might in fact be able to be happy with him.

It was at their wedding that Sansa revealed herself and Baelish's treachery to the Lords and Ladies of the Bale. He had been shocked to say the least, and Sansa had jumped onto the opportunity he had presented, revealing that it was he who was responsible for the murders of Lord and Lady Arryn. For a moment she tasted victory, but that changed when Lyn Corbray, a loyal knight to Littlefinger had leapt up and ran at her. Fortunately out of nowhere, Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne, who had been hiding amongst the guests, also sprang up and quickly cut Ser Corbray down, before turning and pledging her fealty to her. The lady knight and her squire had remained a loyal companion since then. The actions of Baelish's knight had damned him in the eyes of the Vale, but he had one terrible chaotic move to make. Amidst the confusion he pulled the sickly Robyn Arryn to him and stood at the open Moon Door, threatening to throw him out if he was not guaranteed safe passage out of the Eyrie. However, Sweetrobin had a shaking fit at the moment due to all the shock, causing Petyr Baelish to lose his footing and the two fell to their deaths.

That had been a few moons ago, and since then the Vale had been quick to pledge themselves to Sansa and her husband. She had recently managed to find all of Baelish's spies in the Vale, and was working on blackmailing them and the others into working for her. They were also in the process of planning an attack on the Boltons in the North to regain Winterfell, and were waiting on the results of Stannis Baratheon's campaign. It was at that moment that her door knocked, and in strode Lord Royce and her husband. She closed the books and folded her hands above them before speaking,

"Lord Royce, dear husband. What brings you to my chambers? Do you have any important information to share with myself and Lady Brienne?"

"Aye Lady Sansa," said Lord Royce, "We bring news from the North."

"Bad news and worse." grumbled Harry.

Lord Royce gave a frown at that, but still continued to talk.

"It would appear that Lord Stannis was soundly defeated and killed outside of Winterfell, and his wife and daughter were found dead as well."

"How can this be?" asked Sansa, "Stannis' army was at least equal to Roose Bolton's forces."

"A large portion of his sellsword army deserted him, and the rest of the foreigners and southerners were devastated by a Northern blizzard. They never stood a chance."

Sansa's mind began to race with ways to deal with this setback, but remained calm and asked the two,

"And the worse news, my Lords?"

Her husband tossed two scrolls on her desk, each open and bearing the seal of a direwolf and a fish. He spat out,

"We received these from Lord Wyman Manderly and the Blackfish. In them, they say that your youngest brother Rickon is still alive and in their care, and they are asking for the aid of the Knights of the Vale to help reclaim Winterfell in the name of King Rickon."

A strange feeling that she believed might be called hope began to bubble up in her chest. She clung to it like the little girl she once was as she exclaimed,

"That is wonderful news!"

"Is it? Because if he's the King in the North, then you can't exactly be Queen in the North. You're not Targaryens and you are already married. Besides, how do we know that this boy really is your brother?"

Sansa glanced at the room before speaking in a clear tone,

"If I may have the room to speak with my husband for a moment."

The two eyed each other carefully as everyone shuffled out. When they were alone Sansa quietly said,

"Even if this is an imposter, we would be wise to work with him in order to use his forces while they are being offered. We can determine his legitimacy at Winterfell after we have taken it back from the Boltons."

"Or we could wait and see how his campaign turns out before committing. He's but a child, and his defeat could ..."

Sansa stopped Harry from talking by slapping his face as hard as she could, knocking him back into his seat even. Eyes blazing, she hissed at him,

"How dare you even think of letting any sort of harm come to my baby brother! He is my family, and I would chose his safety a thousand times before yours!"

Her husband rubbed his red cheek before looking down and muttering,

"Forgive me, my Lady, the words I spoke were most dishonorable and not my intentions. The young Rickon is my brother by law, and I would never wish harm upon him. My only worry about this is how it may affect our plans."

Sansa reached out and grasped his hand in acceptance of his apology. For all his faults, her husband was still a knight of honor, and probably as close to the songs she would get to in real life.

"It can only help us if we play our hand the right way. My littlest brother is too young to assume the crown, and will need a strong King and Queen Regent to help guide the North and the Vale in these troubling times. I can assure you that Cersei will not let Tommen ignore this. So we must band together and prove our worth and loyalty to the people so that Rickon will continue to trust us when he wears the crown."

He nodded at this before smiling,

"You know, it does gladden me that you are happy with the possibility of your brother being alive. I did mean it when I promised you I would try and help you be happy when we married in the sept. I hope one day you will consider yourself happy with me, no matter how our marriage may have started."

Sansa smiled at that and squeezed his hand in return. Maybe her previous assessment was correct that they could have a happy life together. For now, she had to focus on helping prepare the Knights of the Vale to ride North in aid of her family that might still be alive.

SHAGGYDOG

The little lord trotted silently upon the unfamiliar stone floors of the castle he, Osha, and Shaggydog were currently staying in. It was different from the one they had been staying in when his brother and pack brother left. This one was near the foul tasting water, with many wooden shapes rocking upon it.

'Ships! They are called ships! We are in White Harbor, the seat of House Manderly.' Rickon thought furiously.

It was easy to look at things the way Shaggydog did, the direwolf had a way of making things simpler. But Osha had warned him not to forget who he really was. He was Rickon Stark, son of Eddard and Catelyn Stark. It was a phrase he repeated often, especially when he was warging.

He began to hear familiar voices coming from down the hall and began to creep closer. It wasn't fair that he he had to go to bed so early when he wasn't even tired. Osha had let him stay up late. Besides, they were talking about him and he wanted to know what they were saying. As he moved closer to the slightly open door, a voice called out from the shadows.

"Hello there."

The voice gave way to a body of a rather short man, whom Shaggydog almost towered over. He smelled familiar, like the little marsh people that had been traveling with them. His green eyes stared deeply into his, and a small grin broke out upon his features. He pushed open the door as he whispered,

"Play the wolf, my Prince."

At the table in the middle of the room were four other men. Rickon knew their names to be Lord Manderly, Smalljon Umber, his uncle Brynden Tully, and Asher Forrester. It was the fat Wyman Manderly who gave a start and exclaimed,

"Lord Reed, behind you!"

"I'm well aware of who is behind me, Lord Manderly. It would appear that Prince Rickon's direwolf wishes to have a seat upon this council."

There were a few chuckles but Lord Manderly persisted,

"Are you sure that is wise, my Lord?"

"You'll find you will have a hard time telling that direwolf no, if he's anything like his brother Ghost." remarked Asher.

A memory of a smaller brother flashed through the direwolf's mind. He could still feel him in a hot area where snows rarely fell.

"Anyway, we have sent the ravens to Lord Royce requesting their aid. If, Seven willing, King Robb and Princess Arya have made it safely to the Vale, and Yohn will let us know. If not however, then we will hope that they have made their way to Braavos, where the men under Benjen Stark's command will have taken them in." said Brynden.

"Isn't Benjen Stark dead?"

Asher Forrester shook his head and said,

"That was a ploy to dissuade any more Bolton or Lannister assassins from coming our way. I can assure you that he and the other Starks I told you about in Braavos are alive and well."

"Your mind must have melted in those sands if you really think we're going to believe any of that shit regarding those Targaryens." growled Lord Umber.

Before Asher could respond, it was Lord Reed who held out a hand and spoke,

"You have heard me swear the truth to Lord Asher's story. I was there, remember? If the Young Wolf and his sister are in Braavos, I can safely believe that Prince Jaehaerys has welcomed them with open arms."

"King Jaehaerys, my lord, not prince. He intends to take back the Iron Throne, and may already have the funding of the Iron Bank to help back his rightful claim. Which is why I must implore you to wait before striking against the Boltons. An army sent by my King to help aid us could be on its way right now as we speak."

"That may be true, and it does gladden my heart to know that Lady Lyanna may not be dead, but we are running out of time. My men have already killed our Frey overlords here in White Harbor, at great risk to my son, so that Prince Rickon may be here. We must move now, and strike quickly, in order to take Winterfell. Only then will Prince Bran, and any other Stark feel safe enough to come home," said Lord Manderly, "And besides, if we wait for this army from this King Jaehaerys, we will owe him. No I would rather have this Targaryen King meet our King in the North on equal footing. We march on Winterfell, with or without the help of the Vale or the Targaryens."

The shock of the revelations that he had just learned were enough to push Rickon out of Shaggydog's mind. He lay still in his bed, wide awake now with his mind racing. He hoped and prayed that maybe this time, his family could come home, wherever they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So just to let you all know, there are some time jumps in this chapter. The three parts are not all happening at the same time  
> This will make more sense as we go along in the story.
> 
> If you're still here please leave a comment if you liked it, thank you.


	4. An Army True and Strong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaehaerys and fAegon begin to grow closer as friends, Tyrion has some bitter advice, and somebody makes a risky move

JAEHAERYS

As the approaching rider made their way towards them, Jae felt the calming touch of his wife's hand upon his thigh. He relaxed a fraction as Gryff rode up next to him and called out,

"We are but a few days ride from Volantis Jae, and are the only ones on the road so far."

Jae nodded but it was Dany who quickly shot back at Gryff,

"You will refer to my husband as your Grace, and you would do well to remember your place."

Gryff narrowed his eyes for a moment, but then smiled and replied,

"I meant no disrespect to his Grace. I was only trying to deliver the report he asked me to acquire as soon as possible. Anyway, I have some important things to discuss with the King, so if you would?"

Daenerys did not budge or remove her gaze from Gryff. He motioned again with his head, but she just smiled and moved closer to Jae. Gryff sighed in frustration before looking to him and asking,

"If you may please tell your wife to go someplace else so that we may discuss things in a more private manner."

"I can assure you Gryff, that anything you wish to discuss with my husband, he will discuss with me. So let's cut the middleman and stop wasting time. What do you wish to discuss?"

Jae almost laughed at the incredulous look on Gryff's face as he looked back and forth from Jae to Dany, and even the quiet Crownsguard. When no one said anything Jae spoke up,

"My wife is the Queen, not the Queen Consort, Gryff, and we rule and decide upon things equally. When you speak with one of us, you speak to both of us."

"That's not the way how things are done in Westeros." sputtered Gryff.

"Perhaps not right now," answered Dany, "But we will be doing things very differently when we sit on the Iron Throne."

"The lords of Westeros will neither accept nor like such drastic changes."

"Well it's a good thing that we have the means of making such changes be accepted." said Jae.

As he finished speaking, the three dragons above them roared together. The books and scrolls Rhaenyra found had turned out to be invaluable towards their training. At a little less than half a year old, all three dragons were displaying a high level of intellect and were responding well to the commands given to them. Jae in particular was able to partially warg with the dragons, with Vermithor being the easiest to do so, to help them understand the commands of their one day riders. Jae and Dany spent nearly all their free time working with and simply spending time with the dragons, and it was paying off.

"When do you think the dragons will be able to be ridden?" asked Gryff, lust and greed evident in his gaze and voice.

Jae and Dany glanced at each other with a knowing smile before Dany said,

"At the rate they're growing, perhaps another year or two, but they could probably be ridden before that in an emergency."

Gryff's eyes never left the dragons as they began to perform flips and other acrobatic stunts in the air. Daenerys rolled her eyes at Gryff but smiled at the antics of the dragons before riding off behind them towards Arianne's carriage. After a moment or two, Jae cleared his throat and asked,

"You know, I never asked, but what are your plans once my wife and I sit on the Iron Throne? You are the son of one of my father's most loyal friends, and such loyalty should be rewarded, provided it continues of course. Perhaps your families ancestral home of Griffin's Roost?"

"That castle can stay with its current occupants. I hadn't truly given it much thought," said Gryff, "But if you are offering castles, I hear Dragonstone is quite lovely."

Jae scoffed and looked at the smirking Gryff next to him before saying,

"Dragonstone belongs to House Targaryen, and is the seat of the heir to the Iron Throne, which will belong to my firstborn. My wife and I do intend to change many of the outdated traditions of our kingdoms, but that is not one of them. Now I have some important things to discuss with my Queen and Crownsguard, so if you would?"

Gryff's eyes flared and his jaw clenched, and for a moment it looked like he would say something, but then simply turned his horse around and rode off. When he neared the carriage Arianne was traveling in, he leaned over and tapped his knuckles on the door and said something to the occupants. Jae's attention was then drawn to Lord Tyrion when the dwarf begant to speak,

"Well, he's certainly bold enough to be a king."

"Boldness isn't the only quality one needs. A King and a Queen must have both the conviction to follow through on their bold words, and the means to do so. He has nether." Jae replied.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, your Grace. If Lord Varys truly is one of his most loyal benefactors, then he will have made plans to assure that his preferred prince has some sort of army to back his supposed claim."

"Which is why I haven't simply taken him captive or kill him. We need to learn just how many supporters Gryff actually has, and draw them out. Perhaps when they learn the truth, they will choose us instead."

Tyrion nodded, before moving his horse a little closer and saying in a hushed tone,

"It truly is a kind and noble thing you are attempting to do, and I applaud you and your wife for doing so. However, as long as Gryff has Lord Connington whispering in his ear, your words will mean little to nothing. If you want my advice, it is this. You need to find a way to seperate the two of them, and not just a few days on either side of the caravan."

Jae nodded as he looked back to where as usual, Gryff and Lord Connington were riding together and speaking. He looked away before they could catch his gaze. After a minute or so of quiet riding Jae turned to Tyrion and asked,

"What other advice would you give to the Queen and I, my Lord?"

By that time Dany had rod up next to the two of them and before Tyrion could shake his head, she said,

"All of the reports we gathered from Ser Bronn said that you were quite the capable Hand and de-facto ruler of Kings Landing."

Tyrion gave a small smile as he said,

"I am curious as to how you gained the loyalty of Bronn before I did. I could have sworn he truly was a friend of mine."

"We met Bronn a year before Jon Arryn died on a contract in Myr. We were both hired for the same job, and worked well together. He had a sharp mind and managed to guess as to who we really were, but was quick to offer his services to us in return for a castle," answered Dany, "So we had him sail back to Westeros to keep an eye on things. It was pure luck that the two of you met. You should now however, Lord Tyrion, that we did not pay him to befriend you. Any vow of friendship he made was true and earned."

"Well that is good news to hear, I guess. Anyway back to your question as to what advice I would give to the two of you. Well first off, your plans with the Starks is a sound one. I'm certain that the North will at the very least be thankful that their King is alive. It may bother some that Lord Robb has renounced his title, but they should fall in line. It is also wise to keep them hidden in Braavos. Apart from that, there are three other pieces of advice I would like to impart upon you two, if you would be willing to hear some hard truths."

At the two monarch's nods, Tyrion continued.

"Thank you. The first is in regards to the actions of Dorne and more specifically, the Reach. I know you may have plans on removing Prince Doran and House Tyrell from power, but I would implore you not to start your conquest with such drastic actions. As you have said to me, Lord Robb, and Ser Barristan, none of us knew the truth about your existence, or the false claims of your cousin. They should be punished, but in a more private manner. Perhaps an increase in food shipping to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms from the Reach, and also make sure that you two pick or at the very least, approve of any betrothals made for the Tyrell children. Personally I would legitimize the Lady Rhaenyra and betroth her to Lord Willas Tyrell. She should be made a Targaryen though, the only Blackfyre that should touch Westeros is the sword you carry. If the Lady Margaery is with child, then a betrothal between that babbe and your firstborn, providing yours is a son, would be wise. If she is not, then perhaps a marriage between her and Lord Robb, if the two are willing to marry again. If they are not, then perhaps your other cousin Aedric, provided he is made trueborn and given lands outside of the Reach. Whatever it is you chose, it would be wise to make it look like you are rewarding House Tyrell, but in reality you are binding them to your rule. Their ambitions towards royalty should be tempered by these offers, and if not, then they can be removed."

Jae and Dany were both frowning, especially at the thought of separating Aedric and Rhaenyra, but nodded for Tyrion to continue.

"I would also suggest not starting your conquest with an attacking invasion, but rather a call to have a Grand Council. I am confident that your forces and dragons can beat my sister's army, as well as the forces of the other lords. However, to defeat them on the field of battle and force them to bend the knee will damage their pride. If, on the contrary, they were given the choice to chose you as their rulers, their pride would remain intact and you might gain a much higher form of loyalty. Also, none would accuse you of madness or cruelty if you were to face those that did not chose you on the field of battle. It may be easier to assume the roles of the Conqueror reborn, but that would only gain you loyalty through fear. My final piece of advice is of a more personal manner, but I do swear it has political merits."

"Your advice has been sound so far, my Lord. Please continue." said Jae.

Tyrion swallowed heavily before wringing his hands together and saying,

"I would ask you to spare my brother Jaime. I told you both the night we met the real reason why he killed King Aerys, but that is not the only reason. My brother was a loyal supporter of your father, Prince Rhaegar, and he practically worshiped you, Ser Arthur. Your supposed death, and the deaths of your father and your half siblings broke him. He told me once that he would have given anything to save them. If he were to learn that a son of Prince Rhaegar lived, and that his childhood hero lived as well, I can almost guarantee he would abandon Cersei to join you. If he did so, which I would happily help to convince him, it would be a tremendous help in gaining the support of the Westerlands as well."

Jae looked past Tyrion's hopeful gaze to look at Ser Arthur, who had a pondering gaze upon his face. After a few silent minutes, he began to slowly speak,

"I knighted Jaime because I believed in him. He has changed much since we last saw each other, but if the Jaime I remember is still in there somewhere, then I would agree with Lord Tyrion."

"Aye, we will consider your request and give your brother a chance to chose. If however, he refuses and takes up arms against us, then we will face him as our enemy. As to your other request regarding the Grand Council, we will give your sister and the rest of Westeros once chance to agree to such a meeting. If they refuse, then we will meet them with fire and blood upon the battlefield. We would rather have this generation kneeling now, so that the next can rise with us and live in an era of peace and prosperity."

With that, Tyrion frowned but nodded, and they continued on their way. While they were in Volantis, Jae and Dany spent as little time in the city as possible, preferring to stay with their dragons hidden outside. Neither of them wished to come face to face with Kinvara or her Red Priests. Soon enough, they were able to hire a few ships to take them to the city of Astapor, and from there they would have to travel up the coast on horse and foot. Much to Lord Connington's annoyance, Jae ordered him to quarter on a seperate boat than Gryff, who was invited on Jae and Dany's ship. He and Gryff spent a lot of time sparring and talking on the voyage. On one such evening, Jae stepped above deck to find Gryff retying some rope on the side of the ship.

"Looks like you've done that before." Jae remarked.

"When I was a boy, my father and I would spend our days traveling down the Rhoyne on a small vessel called the Shy Maid. That boat and crew were my home and family once. Even though we were in the middle of Essos, my father still managed to hire a knight, a septa, and even a Maester in training."

"Sounds like your father was preparing you for a life in Westeros. Why did you join the Golden Company then?"

Gryff sighed and leaned on the ship's side, with Jae copying him.

"It was my father's decision. One day he showed up with some officers from the company and we signed some papers and just like that I was a part of the famous Golden Company."

"You make it seem like you didn't have a choice in the matter."

"No, I didn't, not that it really mattered. A part of me still wishes I was back on that boat though, playing cyvasse and fishing."

"Aye, I know the feeling. A part of me also wishes that Daenerys and I could have that simple life in Braavos, but that can't happen as long as we are fighting for the Iron Throne."

There was a comfortable pause before Gryff quietly asked,

"Why are you fighting for the throne?"

Jae looked at him to see only curiosity.

"Why do you think we are fighting for the Iron Throne?"

Gryff frowned but answered quickly,

"Because you believe it to be your birthright, and because the Usurper stole it from you and now you want it back."

Jae smiled but shook his head.

"That's not why. I know it is my and Daenerys' birthright, but we don't want the Iron Throne simply because it was our families and it was taken from us. To be honest, the rebellion was a justified one, though its end was not. My grandfather was a madman, and the people suffered under his reign of terror. He was not fit to rule. We were even slightly okay with letting Robert Baratheon rule, as long as he was a better ruler than Aerys, but he was not. Sure, he didn't burn people alive, but he neglected his responsibilities and the people suffered because of it. Then he died, thanks to the Lannisters, and the War of the Five Kings broke out. Once again, we were content with waiting the conflict out and seeing who would win, but then the Red Wedding happened, and we knew we couldn't do nothing any longer. We have to take back the throne, and not to rule over people, but to help them."

There was a long drawn out silence. After a few minutes, Gryff muttered under his breath,

"I can see why so many people have placed their trust in you."

"Are you one of those people Gryff? Do we have your trust in this endeavor and all others?"

An even longer silence occurred as Jae stood in front of Gryff, staring and waiting. Eventually Gryff looked away before saying,

"I certainly would like to give it to you, if you truly believe me to be worthy of that trust."

An idea struck Jae, and he pushed it to the side before motioning for Gryff to follow him below decks into the cargo hold. Once he was sure no one else was around, Jae began to speak in hushed whispers,

"I'd like to show you something that only Dany and I know about. We haven't even told our Crownsguard of it. While we were on route to Volantis, you asked us if we were planning on giving the white dragon to our child. We do have an idea as to who will ride that dragon, but for our heir we have a different option."

With that Jae unlocked the chest they were standing before, and opened it to reveal a large dragon egg made up of an assortment of colors. Gryff gasped in shock as his eyes seemed stuck upon the egg. Jae tapped it before saying,

"We found it in Valyria in an old temple near a volcano. Time has turned it to stone like the eggs our dragons hatched from, but unlike them, this egg is easily three times larger."

In a near reverent voice with a hint of curiosity, Gryff asked,

"How did you hatch your dragons?"

Jae looked at him for a second before sighing and saying,

"We built a huge wooden platform and soaked it in oil and covered it in kindling. We sat in the center with our eggs and lit the fires. When it died down and the smoke cleared, we were there, unburnt, and holding our dragons."

Gryff nodded absentmindedly as he continued to stare at the egg. Jae clapped his shoulder as he said,

"You can still stare at the egg, but promise me you won't say anything of it, okay Gryff?"

At Gryff's nod, Jae smiled and walked away, nodding at his faithful shadow and Ghost. He made is way up to the cabin he and his wife shared and walked in. Dany was there, getting ready for bed as Jae said,

"I have an idea on how to separate Aegon from Lord Connington."

\--- --- ---

"Absolutely not! I refuse to allow you to go through with this foolish and downright mad plan of yours!"

Jae stared calmly at the Lord Connington, ignoring his red face and glaring eyes. Neither of them spoke until Daenerys sighed and said,

"This is the best plan for all of us. Your son will take a small group of loyal fighters and make for Meereen as fast as possible. He will arrive there before us and deliver our terms to Captain Strickland, thus making it easy for us to quickly arrive and depart from Meereen as soon as possible."

Connington turned to face her and snarled out,

"Quiet woman!"

At this Jae stood up, the growls from both Ghost and Blizzard echoing in the mess hall where everyone was having this meeting. It was a few weeks later, and they were docked right outside of Astapor.

"If you speak like that to my wife again, I will have my direwolf here rip your hands off."

Connington paled at that, but was brought back to his seat when Dany said,

"And after that, Vhagar will feast upon your tongue and eyes."

There was an uncomfortable silence before Gryff sat up and said,

"This plan is a sound one, father, and I agree with it. The Golden Company is a force of twenty thousand, elephants included, and is a strong and true army ready to serve the rightful King. I would be honored to travel ahead and prepare them for your arrival, your Grace."

Connington was struck speechless as his mouth opened and closed. The silence was broken when Tyrion began coughing and sputtering, causing Prince Obern to start thumping on his back. He managed to gasp out,

"I'm fine, I'm fine. The wine went down the wrong hole."

By then, Connington found his voice and said,

"Then let me travel with my son. I know the Company and Strickland better than him, and I can convince him and the others to agree to a better deal."

Jae shook his head,

"Thank you for the offer, Lord Connington, but your services are required elsewhere while this is happening."

"And where exactly do you think you can send me to?"

"We don't think we can," said Daenerys, "We know we can because this is a royal command. You will travel back to Braavos right away. There is some paperwork that needs your signature at the Iron Bank."

At that, both Gryff and Lord Connington, along with a few others, gasped in shock. Jae watched carefully as Gryff and Lord Connington, along with a few others, gasped in shock. Jae watched carefully as Gryff and his father began to whisper a great deal of heated words. He cleared his throat and said,

"We do apologize for the abrupt inconvenience of this command, but please not that this is a command, not a request, and certainly not an offer. Tomorrow morning you, Gryff, will ride for Meereen, and you, my Lord, will sail back to Braavos. If all goes as it should, you will see each other in a few months."

Lord Connington stood up abruptly and half shouted at Jae and Dany,

"This is an outrage! I'll not dance to the ever changing whims of you boy!"

"Are you refusing to obey our order?"

The quiet question from Daenerys froze the room. Everyone glanced back and forth from the Queen to Lord Connington. After a few silent moments, he sighed and bowed his head as he replied,

"I'll not refuse a royal command from the King and Queen. I only ask that either Ser Arthur or Ser Barristan travel with my son for his protection."

Jae looked over to hs Crownsguard, who both shook their heads. Arthur looked over to Connington.

"I'm sorry Jon, but a Crownsguard's place is with the royal family of House Targaryen."

Lord Connington clenched his jaw but nodded.

"Very well. Am I allowed to say my farewells to my son?"

"Of course my Lord, you can take the rest of the day to spend some time with him. In fact, let's all take the rest of the evening off."

Jae tried to ignore the way how Connington glared at him when they walked by each other. He didn't say anything so neither did Jae. He tried not to read too far into it when Gryff didn't show up for their sparring match before dinner, or when they didn't show up for the meal. He and Daenerys quietly retired to bed and spent the next hour or two not being so quiet before falling into a deep sleep. He was woken up by his Uncle Arthur shaking his shoulder and Dany's.

"Your Graces, Lord Connington and Aegon have escaped!"

Jae quickly banished all sleep from his mind and got dressed before rushing to the mess hall where everyone else was beginning to gather. He barked out to the room,

"How did this happen and where in the Seven Hells are they?"

Oberyn spoke up first,

"We found Luc, Thomas, and Mar all outside their door with their throats cut, and the rooms were cleared. It doesn't seem like they took anything, but we are still looking. Someone on a different ship spotted a rowboat heading to shore last night. We have no idea where they are heading."

"I believe I know where they are heading." said Tyrion.

"At everyone's exasperated glance at his pause, Tyrion continued,

"They're going to Meereen."

"Why would they go there, when that's where the Golden Company is waiting for us?"

"Because, my Queen, I think that the Golden Company isn't waiting for us, but rather for them."

A sense of dread washed over the room. Jae reached for Dany's hand under the table as he asked him,

"What makes you say that, Lord Tyrion?"

"Before I fled Westeros with Prince Oberyn from those assassin's, Lord Varys tried to convince me to join this Aegon's side. When I asked what army would support him, he said, 'A strong and true army, ready to serve the rightful king.' That is almost exactly what Aegon said when describing the Golden Company. We need to start considering that when he gets to Meereen before us, he'll have the Golden Company there waiting to pledge their services to him."

The room erupted into arguments and conversations as Jae sat and stared at the table in front of him. After a few minutes, he looked up to see everyone quiet and looking at him. He and Daenerys glanced at each other and nodded before standing up and addressing the room.

"The plan remains the same. We will also travel to Meereen and meet with our cousin. He will be learn the truth there, and will be given the chance to surrender."

"And if they refuse to surrender?"

Jae looked at everyone in the room before growling out,

"Then we kill them all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment if you like the story and/or have questions. They really help propel the story forward.


	5. My Old Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue mission of Margaery Tyrell begins, and nothing goes according to the plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all hope you enjoy this chapter

AEDRIC

The cabin he and Rhaenyra were sharing was filled with a comfortable silence. Nyra sat at the table, looking back and forth between two large tomes, while Aedric was cleaning and inspecting his two weapons. His trusty battle axe had been replaced with a shaft of ironwood and the metal was now Valyrian Steel. The once ancestral sword of House Lannister now had a new hilt. It was much simpler than before, with the only true embellishment being a wolf's head at the center of the crossguard where the blade began, making it look as if the sword was coming out of its mouth. Aedric had liked the design so much that he had asked the same to be done for his axe. As he was staring at the distinctive patterns of the rippling spellforged steel, he heard Rhaenyra ask,

"Have you thought of a name for your new sword and axe?"

"Not really, the blade already has a name and I don't feel like naming an axe."

Nyra turned to face him as she continued,

"Brightroar no longer exists Aedric. All that is left of it is the hilt we anonymously sent to King Tommen. That blade is yours now."

"Aedric nodded, and grinned at the thought of how the Lannisters must have felt when the hilt showed up on their doorstep. It had taken some clever planning to ensure that no one could trace it back to them, but it was well worth it. Jae had just wanted to send the empty hilt, but of course Aedric had decided to take it a little further than just that. He had commissioned a talented carpenter and painter to attach a long plank of wood to the hilt. The carpenter had then sanded, carved, and whittled it down until it was the same size and shape of the blade, while the painter spent a few hours recreating the look of Valyrian Steel with his paints. He wished he could have been there in Court when the boy king drew the blade only to find it false.

"Perhaps something to honor both sides of my family then." said Aedric.

Rhaenyra was quiet for a moment before she looked up and replied,

"What about Starfrost?"

"Starfrost it is then. speaking of family, how are you holding up?"

Rhaenyra looked down at her hands and said in a soft voice,

"Better than I thought I would be. It feels weird that it doesn't hurt as much, but then again I never really knew him that well. Although, I still wish that he had had a cleaner death."

"I don't," Aedric growled, "After what he had done to Jae's real brother, and what he did do to you, he deserved everything he got and more."

"Indeed he did, young Aedric." said a flowery voice from the doorway.

The stench of perfume wafted through the air, causing Aedric and Rhaenyra to almost gag before looking up to see Lord Varys standing in front of them. The Spider continued in his silky voice,

"Though I do wonder what sort of terrible punishment your King and Queen would have inflicted upon him if they were here."

"He would have been simply executed, Lord Varys, just like how all traitors are executed. Also, do remember that they are your King and Queen now. You, and all the other hostages you and Illyrio kidnapped, all swore fealty not even a fortnight ago."

Varys nodded as the three were lost in thought as they recalled the events that brought them together.

TWO WEEKS AGO

"Are you sure this is going to work Aedric?" asked Rhaenyra.

Aedric gave a nod and tried to say the word yes through the gag in his mouth. His hands were uncomfortably bound behind him and the hardwood floor was starting to bother his knees. It was Nymeria who answered, her voice a low whisper in the moving cart they were in,

"Of course it will, it's a sound plan. All you have to do is distract him long enough for the rest of us to get into position."

Rhaenyra nodded, a little more to herself than the others, before leaning over and kissing Aedric's forehead. After she moved back, she grabbed the black sackcloth and held it in front of her with an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry, but we need to make sure that he believes you're really a prisoner."

Aedric nodded and closed his eyes as the sack was placed over his head, and a rope was loosely tied to keep it secure. When he opened his eyes, the Darkened interior of the wagon turned pitch black. He could still breath well enough, and hear to a degree, but is sight was non-existent. He soon realized that he loved being able to see, and to have it taken away from him so simply caused the usually unfamiliar feeling of fear to creep its way through his body. It was only Rhaenyra's presence next to his that kept him calm. The bumpy ride continued for about another half hour before it finally stopped. Somebody knocked on the door and it was opened. A calm emotionless voice called out to his left,

"This one wished to know why you have come to the estate of Magister Illyrio Mopatis."

Rhaenyra answered, her voice calm as well.

"Please give this scroll to the Magister at once. Tell him that the girl who read all his books is here."

There was silence for a long time, and Aedric did not dare break it. It was broken when a pair a rough hands grabbed him by the tunic and threw him to the ground outside the carriage. He struggled to push himself up to his knees, but ceased when he felt the cold tip of something sharp and metal press against the base of his skull. He then heard that same emotionless voice call out behind him

"This one will take you and your prisoner to the Magister now. The rest of the group will stay behind."

Aedric was pulled to his feet and felt the tips of spears begin to prod him forward. He heard a gate shut behind him. but focused on the smell of Nyra's perfume in front of him. He hoped that everything went according to the plan, even though there wasn't much of one to begin with.

RHAENYRA

Pure terror course through her veins as she was escorted through her father's manse, but Thaenrya did not let her emotions show. She schooled her face to show as little emotion as the Unsullied soldiers next to her. Off in the distance she could see the tower in which she was held prisoner for the beginning of her life. At the top, in the window where she used to scream from, was a flash of brown hair, but it quickly disappeared when she looked again. The group made their way through the somewhat familiar maze of bushes before entering the center of the gardens. It was in the very center, on top of a fountain, that she could see the statue of her brother, holding a stone blade up in the air. Behind that lay the actual manse of her fathers, and the balcony that overlooked the garden. It was up there that her father conducted his business. As they walked up the stairs to his office, she looked around the garden once more, taking in all the armed men who roamed the area. Before she knew it, they had ascended the stairs and Rhaenyra came face to face with her father.

He was even fatter than he was before, if that was even possible. There were two other men sitting at the couches with him. One was bald with flowing robes and heavy perfume, and the other a clear warrior. Her father gave nothing away as he clapped his hands together and called out,

'It pleases me to know you are safe, my daughter, and you have remembered where your loyalties lie."

At this the bald man frowned and peered closely at Rhaenyra, as he calmly stated,

"I wasn't aware that you had a daughter, my old friend."

Before he could respond Rhaenyra quickly spoke up,

"That is because he did not know of me until a couple years ago, my lord?"

"Ah, where are my manners? Nyra, this is Lord Varys, and the man next to him is Captain Mero of the Second Sons."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the kneeling Aedric stiffen in shock, but she ignored it and gave a small curtsey to the two men in front of her. The Spider nodded in return, his frown never leaving his face. Mero winked, but also gave a short nod of greeting.

"Now come, come, let us see this bastard brother of our good Prince Aegon, shall we?"

With that Rhaenyra tore off the cloth sack from Aedric's face. At the same time, Mero and a few of his men leapt up from their chairs and quickly overpowered her father's guards. The element of surprise was one their side, and the fight was over in a few seconds. Lord Varys kept still, almost ignoring the blade at his throat, but her father held the gaze of hatred that she knew all too well. He snarled out,

"Treacherous bitch! How dare you side with that bastard over Prince Aegon!"

"I have sided with Jaehaerys Targaryen because he is my friend, and because I believe in him. Besides father, I found the proof of your lies and treachery. Perhaps Lord Varys should know of your deal with Captain Martyn Waters of the Silverwing?"

Varys' eyes flared with recognition while Illyrio's widened in fear. He sputtered out to Mero,

"Mero! I'll give you a million gold dragons if you kill her now!"

Mero glanced over at her and the now untied and standing Aedric. He smirked and shook his head before saying,

"Sorry Mopatis, but it's poor form to kill your employer, especially after we signed on and agreed upon a much better offer. It's good to see you Aedric. I do hope this will prove to your cousin that I am sorry for my actions."

"That depends on how well you continue to keep your word, Mero. Go send someone to bring Captain Waters up here. It's time that you find out what happened after you gave the baby Aegon to him the night before the Sack, Lord Varys."

VARYS

Of all the ways he had expected the day to go, this way was not the one he had planned for. After listening to the subtle threats from the Queen of Thorns in regards to the whereabouts of her grandchildren turn into not so subtle threats, Varys had taken it upon himself to travel to Pentos and bring back Prince Aegon's young bride back to her family. He wasn't sure why Aegon had insisted on her accompanying him on what was supposed to be a short trip to reunite with his long lost brother. It had taken quite a bit of persuasion to help convince Aegon to not travel to Braavos and simply take his half-brother's head. Instead Varys had counselled him to rather befriend him before telling him the truth and to convince him to join his side. Varys was still annoyed that he hadn't figured out the result of Rhaegar and Lyanna's running away together. The fact that the loyalists on Dragonstone had not informed him of the successful birth of Princess Daenerys also annoyed him. She would have been a fine Valyrian bride for the Crown Prince, but still could be.

Of course, all of his plans seemed to be on the rather pointless side of things as he took in the appearance of the old and broken captain before him. Martyn Waters did not look like a man who had helped save a dynasty, but rather one who had damned one. As the captain began to slowly tell his terrible tale, Varys felt an icy cold claw begin to slither up his spine. The feeling of fear only grew as he continued and finished his tale. The outdoor patio was deathly silent as Varys looked at Martyn and asked him,

"How did you learn of this truth?'

"When I was here before, m'Lord Spider, I met the Magister's wife who was pregnant at the time. She was beautiful, and looked a bit like Lady Rhaenyra over here. A few years after, I was back in Pentos when I saw the boy, and he looked nothing like Princess Elia and barely anything like Prince Rhaegar either. That was when I realized what Illyrio had tricked me into doing."

Varys turned to face Illyrio, and the face of his old friend told him all he needed to know. He said to his once oldest friend,

"How could you Illyrio?"

Illyrio shrugged before coldly responding,

"I saw an opportunity to put my wife's blood back on the Iron Throne back where it belonged."

"That will never happen father."

Varys watched as a look of hate so terrible, it reminded him of Aerys, come across Illyrio's face. That expression quickly changed to one of shock as the old sea captain rushed forward and tackled Illyrio to the ground and began to pummel his face, screaming all the while. After a few moments, Illyrio surprisingly managed to roll away and push himself to his feet. He began to run toward the balcony and stairs, but Martyn chased after him and reached him before anyone else. With a strength that defied the old man's age, Martyn tackled the fat Magister up and over the railings of the balcony. There was an odd tearing noise as well as a sickening thud, then silence.

Everyone cautiously made their way to the edge of the balcony and peered down before almost gagging in revulsion. Martyn had collided with the edge of the stone wall of the fountain, thus splitting his skull open with brain matter floating around him. Illyrio however, had it even worse. His back had fallen onto the sword of the statue, but it hadn't stopped there. After being impaled by the blade, Illyrio had continued to fall backwards until the stone arm also tore through his chest. His head had also slammed backwards, and judging from the red matter all over the face of the statue, Illyrio's skull had also cracked. Still, it took about a minute or so for him to bleed out and stop twitching. Nobody moved as they watched his death in silence.

PRESENT DAY

The remainder of that day had passed by rather quickly for Varys. After the general shock had passed, he was quick to swear his fealty and services to the rightful King and Queen. He would wait until he was able to truly gauge their character before fully pledging himself to their cause. However, from the stories he had heard from their cousins, his lifelong dream of finding a King and Queen that the Realm deserves might actually come true.

It came as no surprise that Mero and the Second Sons had been on the side of this Jaehaerys. Prince Oberyn was once a member of that Company, and it had only taken a single letter from him to convince Mero. There was also apparently a long story about how the Titan's Bastard owed his life to the King as well. Nevertheless, after repeating his pledge to commit the Second Sons to the Targaryen forces, Mero was also given Illyrio's old manse. This was after, of course, Rhaenyra had gone through almost all of the rooms, including the tower, and took nearly every book there was with them. Nobody was surprised by this.

Varys was also quick to show them to where Illyrio had been keeping his "guests" from Westeros. They had been expecting the Lady Margaery to be there, but were very surprised to see that she wasn't the only hostage. Varys and Illyrio had been very thorough in making sure that House Tyrell and Martell kept their loyalties to Aegon. They had also taken Garlan Tyrell and Quentyn Martell hostage as well. Varys and the others had been touched when the two Tyrell siblings had been reunited for the first time, with neither of them knowing they were both in Pentos. Quentyn was also similarly relieved to know that his sister and Uncle were still alive, as was Varys. Once again, he had believed his old friend's lie when he said that their ship was sunk by pirates. He was abruptly pulled from his musings on the past when Aedric asked,

"Have you told Quentyn and the Tyrells the truth yet, Lord Varys?"

He nodded and replied,

"I have. They were obviously shocked to say the least. However, they would be more than willing to pledge their loyalties to the rightful King and Queen in thanks to being rescued. As you saw, the conditions they were being held in were quite terrible. They were wondering if they could speak with you about a few things. It has been almost two weeks since you spoke to them, and they are feeling much better now."

The two nodded and rose in sync with each other. Lady Rhaenyra was the one who spoke,

"Then we shall go and have dinner and speak with them."

"Aye, we've been expecting a bombardment of questions from you all since the first couple days of our voyage. You were the only one, and you hardly asked any questions at all." said Aedric.

"True, and yet I learned quite a bit about our King and Queen."

RHAENYRA

As Rhaenyra continued to balance the tray of food and walk down the cramped hallway of the ship, her thoughts trailed back to her father. Everything had happened so fast, and hse hadn't had anytime to say any of the things she had wanted to say to him. She didn't know how she felt about that. Still, she pushed it down and locked it away, telling herself that she would deal with it later. Perhaps, she hoped, Aedric would be there with her. Now, however, was the time to speak with hopefully three nobles who would soon become allies.

The dinner started off awkwardly. After she helped to pass the food around, Rhaenyra sat down next to Aedric and heard Quentyn Martell say,

"And what do you think you're doing?"

"Eating." she replied.

"This is the table for the highborn, not cooking wenches. An exception can be made for Aedric seeing as he is the King's cousin, but you ..."

"Hold your tongue or I'll rip it out of your mouth Quentyn. Rhaenyra here is the cousin of the King and Queen too, as well as the third dragon rider."

Quentyn's face paled with shock as he looked down and muttered,

"Forgive me, my Lady, I did not know."

"It's alright," said Rhaenyra, "You had no way of knowing who I was, just as you, Lord Garlan, or you, Lady Margaery, had no way of knowing the truth about my brother or King Jaehaerys"

"Everyone relaxed at that and continued to eat the meal in front of them. Rhaenyra watched carefully as Lady Margaery ate her food and drank the wine. After she finished her first cup, Rhaenyra leaned toward her and said softly,

"I take it you are not with child, my Lady?"

Margaery stiffened, but gave a short nod.

"I am not. My grandmother and I believed it to be wiser to make sure that the heir be born on Westerosi soil."

"If I may be so bold, what would you have done if my sister was pregnant with this false Aegon's child?" asked Garlan.

Aedric's response was immediate.

"Hired a midwife, and made sure to buy all the supplies needed to ensure that your pregnancy was a healthy one."

There was a lengthy silence as everyone digested the information. Garlan breathed out,

"Truly? Why?"

"Two reasons. One, we would never harm a child no matter what, none of us would. Second, because King Jaehaerys and Queen Daenerys commanded that if you were with child, you and the babe would be kept safe."

"Even with the threat of the claim of Aegon's child?"

"What claim? However the events in Meereen go, Aegon will be renouncing his claim, not that he even had one to begin with." scoffed Aedric.

"Our families may beg to differ." said Quentyn.

"That is why you three, actually you four, are coming with us, Lord Varys included. AFter you swear fealty to the King and Queen, you'll be advising them on how best to persuade your families to surrender and bend the knee to House Targaryen once more." Aedric replied.

"By all rights, House Martell and House Tyrell are traitors. However, given the circumstances, they will be given a chance to renounce their previous loyalties. Only one chance will be given though. Our King and Queen are merciful, but they are not foolish."

Varys then spoke out to the room,

"That is of course, entirely dependant on our King and Queen surviving the trap waiting for them in Meereen."

Aedric gave a low chuckle.

"If you are referring to the allegiance of the Golden Company, Jae has already made some plans in regards to that. I can assure you, Lord Varys, the King and Queen are much better at setting traps than falling into them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you thought of the chapter
> 
> Sneak Peak  
> "Hello brother."


	6. Hello Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets and Revelations revealed, some good and some bad. Decisions are made, and the Dance begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter. It's pretty early but I was on a roll and wanted to give it to you guys in thanks for the comments from the last few chapters. It's really helped with the inspiration so please keep them coming. You're probably going to want the next chapter as soon as possible when you get to the end :)
> 
> Also by the way, now that the "secret" is out, everyone is just refering to "Gryff" as Aegon now. It's still the same guy, just nobody is pretending anymore.

JAEHAERYS

Jae rode alone in the front of the column, with nothing but his stupid overthinking mind to keep him company. While many considered him quite the skilled fighter, Jae's true talent was his skill as a tactician. Even in the midst of battle, he fought with maneuvers and strategy, in comparison to Aedric's brute force and rage. Even Dany fought with more passion, screaming curses in High Valyrian as she danced through her foes. Jae though, was cold and silent in a fight. Every step or twist or lunge he took was calculated and planned out. Rare was the time when his inherent Targaryen fire burned though his cold Stark visage, though it was always present. Ever since Valyria however, things had changed. Before, Jae made sure every move he took was calculated and planned out. Now, all he could hope for was that his rash action hadn't alienated himself and his wife.

He looked back behind him, hoping to see her riding up to him. Instead he found her still conversing with the translator Missandei and Arianne a ways back, with her silver hair distinctly standing out. She was smiling brightly, something she had not been doing with him for the past week or so, ever since they left Astapor. Ser Arthur was acting as her shadow, so that left him Ser Barristan. The old knight saw his gaze on him and quickly spurred his horse forward to ride alongside the young king. They were silent for a moment before Jae asked,

"Do you think I made the right decision?"

"It is not my place to judge, only to protect."

"That may have been the oath of a Kingsguard, but you are of the Crownsguard now Ser Barristan. Your honest council is needed as much as your sword and shield."

Ser Barristan nodded and was quiet for a few moments before he began cautiously,

"You have gained another army of eight thousand strong, your Grace, and did so in a bold manner."

"It's the how that I wonder about."

As he said that, he looked behind him to see the silent Unsullied marching in unison behind him. When everyone started panicking about facing the Golden Company without an army, Tyrion had mentioned the Unsullied. At first no one had wanted to buy slave soldiers, especially Daenerys and Jae. It had taken a lot of convincing, but finally they went to a man named Kraznys and began working out a deal with him. Dany had argued with Jae all night about paying the slavers, but he had continued to tell her that they didn't have time to do this the moral way. However, he had been listening to her all along. When the time for payment came, Jae had tossed a single coin in Kraznys' face and demanded all eight thousand Unsullied. When the slave master had protested, Jae threatened him and all of Astapor with the dragons.

"It was a difficult choice, and you managed to do so without funding any slavers. You and your wife also freed every single one of those men, and now they all follow you of their own free will. Truly, I am failing to see whatever has you brooding more than your father." said Barristan.

"I didn't tell Daenerys of my plans."

The old knight's eyebrows rose high into his forehead as he looked at Jae.

"It looked like she knew exactly what you were doing, and backed you the whole way. Why didn't you tell her, or anyone else for that matter?"

"I wanted to catch that bastard slaver off guard, and it worked perfectly. Only know, my wife will barely speak to me."

Barristan was silent for a few minutes, before he began to slowly speak,

"From what I've seen of you two, there is an incredible amount of trust you share. Perhaps Queen Daenerys felt like you no longer trusted her."

Jae winced in pain at just the thought of that. They all rode in silence for the rest of the day. That evening, Jae forego the routine of this past week of sparring with Grey Worm, Arthur, and Barristan till he passed out. Instead he mustered up the courage and made his way into his pavilion where Daenerys was, though she wasn't alone.

"Lady Missandei, may I speak with my wife alone?"

The freed Naathi translator gave a quiet nod and quickly walked out of the room, leaving it silent as Daenerys stared at him through the mirror. As usual, the ethereal beauty of his wife threatened to overwhelm him, but he managed to pull himself together and stark talking,

"I'm sorry. I should have told you what I was planning on doing. You were the one who came up with the idea in the first place and I dismissed it, but then I got to thinking about it and it was a good idea. I should have trusted you with my idea, with our idea. We are a team, we should have done this together, and instead I've been avoiding you and ..."

At this moment Jae's monologue was stopped by the gentle press of Dany's warm finger upon his lips. Without him even knowing, she had gotten up from her chair and made her way over to him. He let himself be pulled into a hug as she stroked his hair, and began to feel hot tears fall onto his neck. His wife began to whisper,

"You silly, silly man, that's not why I've been distant with you. I mean, I would have liked to have known beforehand, but I understand why you didn't say anything. We'll need to work on telling each other these things, myself especially."

"What do you mean Dany? Why are you crying?"

She stopped him from talking again and then continued to speak,

"The real reason I started to avoid you was because I wanted to make sure we were close enough to Meereen that you wouldn't send me back to Braavos or something."

"Why would I send you back Dany?"

With trembling hands, Dany pulled Jae's hands from her face and pressed them onto her stomach. He felt a small bump and gasped in shock as he looked into her eyes.

"Are you?"

She nodded and let out a sob before saying,

"I missed my moonblood a little while ago, and Arianne and the Sand Snakes confirmed it this morning. Jae I'm ..."

This time it was Daenerys' turn to stop talking as Jae covered her mouth with his in a scorching kiss as he pulled her into his lap. Their tongues battled for dominance for a minute or so before they broke apart, panting heavily. Jae whispered to her,

"Why would you think I would send you back?"

"To keep me away from the fights. That's what Aegon did with Margaery and I thought that you would too."

"I am not Aegon, and you are not just some flowery lady. You are my Queen, my fierce warrior princess. Yes I will worry for your child's safety, but I know you won't do anything to risk that, I trust you. Besides, I want to be there every step of the way, like I promised you when we married. I want to see our child grow in you, to watch as your belly and breasts swell and your body glow. I don't want to miss a single second of our child."

"Say that again."

Jae looked at her with a confused expression.

"Say what Dany?'

"Our child, say it again."

Jae smiled as he held Dany's face in his hands as he said to her,

"Our child, Daenerys Stormborn. Yours and mine. A little boy or a girl that will be ..."

Whatever Jae was planning on saying next was stopped when Dany engulfed his mouth with hers. It was some time later before they were able to talk again. They were both breathing heavily on their bed of furs, Dany lying halfway across Jae. A little bit after their heartbeats settled down, Ghost appeared and made his way into the tent. he stopped and sniffed at Daenerys' belly before turning around a few times and lying down between her and the entrance. Dany whispered to Jae,

"Do you think he knows?"

"Probably. Direwolves have a keen sense of smell and hearing. He might have known before you did, or at least suspected it."

"That would explain why he was spending so much time with me these past few weeks."

Jae chuckled and shifted around to take a look at his companion.

"I thought he was just taking your side."

Dany tilted his head to face her.

"There's just our side now. No more secrets, no more hiding things from each other, okay?"

Jae smiled and nodded before looking away. He said in a low quiet voice, barely audible,

"I lied to Aegon, about how to hatch a dragon, Dany. I showed him that large stone we had carved and painted to look like a dragon egg, like we had planned. But then he started asking about how we hatched our dragons, and I knew what he was wanting to do and why. So I lied to him and made some shit up about sitting in the middle of a fire."

Dany was silent for a minute before she said,

"Well that is basically what happened, at least from our end."

Jae scoffed and replied,

"Right, but you read those books and scrolls from those libraries Rhaenyra found. All we had to do was sit in the lava and fire, but there was also those ancient spells from Kinvara, those blood sacrifices she performed, and Zaldrizes Sikagon itself. Besides the egg is a hunk of stone, a fake. It wouldn't work even if Aegon had everything we did."

"True, but wasn't that the point of this particular plan? To trick Aegon into trying to hatch the egg, and prove he was no dragon?"

"Aye, but this plan was supposed to be one of our last ones, and only if Aegon was our enemy."

"Isn't he?"

It was Jae's turn to be silent for a few minutes. By that time they had moved around a bit, with Dany in between Jae with her back against his chest.

"How much of a chance have we really given him to be anything else?"

"We did give him a chance. His chance was going to Meereen and giving us the Golden Company. He deserted us instead, stole that false egg, and is probably already in Meereen with twenty thousand men at his back."

"But how much of that is because Connington has been the only one whispering in his ear? According to Rhaenyra, Illyrio raised him as Rhaegar's son since the beginning, and Connington obviously fell for and fed into that lie. Besides, you saw how he acts without Connington by his side. He doesn't want the throne, not really. He's only doing it because he believes it's his right."

"What are you really worried about jae? It's not Connington, and it's not even what Aegon believes to be his right, so what is it?"

"I'm worried that my friend is going to burn himself alive because of the lies I told him."

"Wouldn't our men inside the Golden Company stop him?" asked Daenerys."

Jae shook his head in reply,

"They were told to follow his orders until we arrived. All they will do is watch."

"Then all we can do is hope we make it to Meereen before that happens. We have a plan, we have multiple plans. Hopefully, if everything goes according to any of those plans, our cousin will be joining our side."

"I hope so."

Dany then turned around to face Jae, her expression questioning and apprehensive.

"But if he isn't willing to bend the knee, or he threatens us, I can deal with him instead of you. I won't have you kill a friend."

Jae kissed her forehead before saying in a strong but quiet voice,

"Thank you, but you won't have to do that. We will tell our cousin the truth, and give him one chance to bend the knee. If he doesn't, if he even thinks of harming you or our child, I'll light the fire myself and watch as he turns to ashes."

Dany nodded before pulling his hands down to her belly, wanting to change the conversation.

"Speaking of our child, do you think it will be a boy or a girl?"

Jae's eyes shone with curiosity as he replied,

"What about both?"

Dany slapped his arm in mock outrage before proclaiming,

"Twins? You want me to get that fat? All right, let's say they are twins. What will their names be?"

Jae smiled,

"You pick the boy. I'll chose the girl."

Dany sat back and thought for only a few seconds before grinning and saying,

"Aemon or Daeron, for the Dragonknight or the Young Dragon. Two of your childhood heroes. Now your turn."

Jae grinned at her before replying,

"Visenya, for the warrior queen, or Rhaella, for your mother."

Dany's eyes shone with tears as she leaned forward and kissed him. They made love softly for the rest of the night, cherishing each other's bodies, and the life they had created together. The next morning found the King and Queen riding together at the front of the column, much to the relief of their advisors. They were also quite thrilled at the news of Daenerys' pregnancy. A few worried about her traveling and being in the midst of a potential battle, but Jae and Dany quickly shut that down. They would spend the next nine months or more in Meereen if they had to in order to ensure that the Queen had everything she needed for the birth. With that, everyone continued to press forward, following their King and Queen on horseback and foot.

DAENERYS

It was a few days later when Daenerys called for Lord Tyrion to join her and Jae in the front of the column. He quickly made his way to the two of them, bowing his head as he approached,

"Your Graces, how may I be of assistance?"

"We would like to discuss the council you gave us a month or so ago, my Lord."

Tyrion nodded before asking,

"Very well, what of it?"

Dany and Jae looked at each other before she began to speak,

"It has come to our attention that we have not informed you of a match that is already in place."

"Who?"

"Lord Aedric and Princess Rhaenyra. They have been together and in love almost as long as we have, though they are shy in showing it. We will not be splitting them apart without them having a say in it. We will present them with the option of marrying each other or the options you presented. The choice will be theirs though."

"That I can agree with. Had I known of a prior relationship, I would not have suggested such a thing. I am aware of what it's like to marry while your heart belongs to another," said Tyrion, before frowning and saying hesitantly, "Although, the two lovebirds surnames do come into question. Aedric isn't a Lord, he is a Sand, and Rhaenyra is a Blackfyre. You could legitimize him as a Stark, but that puts him and Robb Stark as contesting for Winterfell."

"Robb Stark is the Lord of Winterfell. He, Aedric, Dany, and I already discussed that. Aedric will be made a Dayne, or form a cadet branch from either of his families." answered Jae.

"And Rhaenyra? How will you explain her last name, let alone finding her?"

"Rhaenyra will take our last name, as will Aegon if he bends the knee. The only Blackfyre that will cross the Narrow Sea will be the sword on my husband's hip, as you said. As for Nyra's name, her place as the third dragon rider should be enough to silence the questions of the Lords and Ladies."

Tyrion was quiet as he contemplated the two monarch's answers. He then nodded and said,

"This could work. There will be questions, like always, but as long as you arrive with enough fire and blood, and then really help to rebuild the kingdoms, they won't be too loud or numerous."

"I'm glad you agree, Lord Tyrion."

The three rode in silence before Tyrion cleared his throat and began to speak,

"If I may ask, your Graces, what are your plans with my niece Myrcella and Prince Trystane?"

Dany frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean? They are betrothed, are they not?"

Tyrion nodded before grimacing,

"Yes, but I arranged that match in order to benefit my House. I know that she is pretty much a hostage, even more so now with Dorne's new allegiances, but Prince Oberyn did tell me the match is still a favorable one between the two."

"The match benefits everyone, our House and yours. Besides, we would be quite the hypocrites if we denied love between the two of them while giving our cousins a choice." Dany replied.

Tyrion smiled before taking his leave of the two monarchs. The day they were to arrive in Meereen, a scout came galloping up to them, panting in dismay,

"Meereen has been sacked, the city is in ruins, and Targaryen banners fly above the walls!"

With that, everyone moved at a fast pace till they reached the plains outside the gate of Meereen. It was as the scout said. Even from a distance, they could see ruined buildings and plumes of black smoke spread sporadically throughout the city. A large Targaryen flag was drapped across a large statue of a giant harpy on top of a large pyramid. But that wasn't what everyone's eyes were upon.

Standing in formation in front of the wall was the Golden Company, elephants included. Dany could see a large amount of archers and siege equipment on top of the wall as well. As their Unsullied, and the soldiers got into formation, a group of riders began to approach before stopping in the middle. They carried the Targaryen flag and the banner of the Golden Company.

Dany watched as Jae clenched his teeth in frustration before he said,

"Ser Arthur, Ser Barristan, Prince Oberyn, Princess Arianne, and Lord Tyrion will join us."

"As will our dragons and direwolves," said Daenerys, "And will someone get us our crowns, please?"

A few minutes passed before the crowns arrived, and the King and Queen donned them. Jae wore the Conqueror's crown and she wore Visenya's. The two were also thankfully dressed that day in the Valyrian Steel armor they had found in Zaldrizes' Sikagon. As one their group made their way to the middle of the plain. Once they got there, Syrax roared and Blizzard howled in rage and fear at the site before them.

Kneeling in front of them with blades at their throats were Aedric and Rhaenyra. On horseback were the smiling Lord Connington and Lord Varys, with a few Golden Company officers as well. In the middle was Aegon, with his blue hair washed out to reveal not so silver hair. He looked at Jae and sneered,

"Hello brother. Have you come to bend the knee?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now it begins.
> 
> Sneak Peak  
> "If our friendship meant anything to you, do not do this Aegon, please!"


	7. A Family Affair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aegon and Jaehaerys finally show all their cards as secret alliances are revealed and allies are betrayed. The true colors of a would be king are also shown to the world, as the Dance begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is the big confrontation chapter. I hope you guys enjoy.

AEGON

For the first time since he met him, Aegon's half-brother was struck speechless. All he did was stare at the hostages that his loyal servant Varys had procured for him. According to Connington, the boy was definitely the traitor Brandon Stark's, the first Stark who dared to defy their rightful King. Aegon believed none of the lies that Jae had told him about their Grandfather, nor did he even for one second believe that their father had married the Stark bitch. He would not have dishonored his mother so, Connington was sure of it. The other hostage, the young woman, was beautiful and also strangely familiar. Jon appeared to think so too, especially when he saw her face for the first time, but since then he had avoided her.

As his bastard half-brother had yet to speak, Aegon looked past him at the approaching army they had brought for him. He was quite surprised, and secretly impressed to see that the rows of motionless spearmen were in fact the Unsullied. Aegon wondered how Jae had managed to acquire such a force, but he supposed it mattered very little. The slave soldiers would soon belong to him, as would all of his younger half-brother's things. Regardless of their father's affair with Jae's mother, Aegon was still the firstborn, and therefore all the treasures taken or gained in the name of House Targaryen belonged to him. The crowns, the swords, the armies, the dragons, and even Jae's wife all should have been his, and today they would be. Still smirking at Jae's stoic expression, Aegon motioned at the two hostages before calling out to his half-brother,

"Apparently these two were in Pentos trying to speak with my wife Margaery when Lord Varys found them. He stopped them from doing so, and brought them to me to prove his loyalty."

Finally Jae spoke up, his voice surprisingly calm,

"Remove their gags so I may speak with them."

"Of course. Once you get off your horse and kneel before me."

Jae looked at him with his piercing indigo eyes. He said in that same calm voice,

"You are in no position to make any demands."

Aegon gave a short laugh, which was quickly picked up by the rest of his men. They all shut up as the ground shuddered beneath their feet when all three dragons landed around them. Everyone in his group cowered at the sight of the up close beasts, but not him. He was Aegon Targaryen with the blood of the dragon, he would not bend. Still, perhaps humoring his bastard half-brother for the time being was the better option. He nodded at one of his soldiers, who removed the gag from the man's mouth. Jae looked at him with a bit of concern as he said,

"Are you and Nyra alright, Aedric?"

Aedric spat into the ground before answering in a calm voice,

"Never better, cousin. We did just get here a day or so ago. It's just like that situation with that warlord outside of Qohor a few years back."

Aegon felt a stab of jealousy shoot through him as he watched the two interact as brothers, especially at Jae's easy smile and relaxed posture. He motioned for the gag to be put back in place before he sat up straight and began to speak to Jae and his company,

"As your eldest brother, I am commanding you to get off your horse and kneel before me, your rightful King."

Once again there was absolute silence as no one moved at all. Finally Jae sighed in frustration and looked at him with pity in his eyes as he said,

"I'm sorry there isn't an easier way to tell you this, but you're not my brother Aegon."

Aegon reared back his head as if struck. He frowned in confusion as he replied to his half-brother,

"What are you talking about? As a babe, I was smuggled out of King's Landing by Lord Varys. I am Aegon Targaryen, the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell."

Suddenly he was cut off when his misguided Uncle spat out,

"Don't you dare say my sister's name!"

"Uncle, I am your sister's son, your nephew, and your rightful King!"

Oberyn's eyes were filled with such hatred that Aegon leaned back from them as the Red Viper said,

"You are none of those things, boy. You're nothing but a baseborn pretender."

It was Aegon's turn to stare in shocked silence. It was broken when Lord Connington stepped forward and began to speak,

"I can assure you, Prince Oberyn, that the man before you is Rhaegar's son. He was smuggled out of the capital before the Sack. I have cared for him ever since."

"Sadly, Lord Connington," said Daenerys, "You have also been deceived. My husband's brother was taken from the city, but he was replaced with the boy before you."

Finally Varys spoke up, but his question was confusing to say the least,

"And where did the real Aegon go then?"

"He was murdered on the voyage from King's Landing on the orders of the man who ordered the switch in the first place. Aegon's real father, Illyrio Mopatis."

The next few minutes of arguing were a blur to Aegon. He could see his father figure and his half-brother speaking, but all he heard was a low buzzing noise. As the hot sun continued to shine bright against him, he felt a cold sweat run down his brow. He felt like his horse was spinning in circles. He felt such rage and betrayal from his half-brother for even speaking such nonsense, but clearly this was his plan to question his rule, his rightful claim. There was no way his half-brother's lie could be true, it simply wasn't possible. He was Aegon Targaryen, son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell. Obviously his half-brother must be mistaken somehow, perhaps the dwarf had told him the lie. It would make sense coming from a Lannister, they had always been a House of traitors and oathbreakers, especially the Kingslayer. Aegon knew he would have to make an example of him especially. He began to hear another traitor speak, Ser Barristan. The old knight had bent the knee to two different usurpers, and he had to pay for that.

"In the end, Maelys fought with honor and as the light began to leave his eyes, he begged me to do what I could to save his wife, an innocent woman. She was pregnant at the time, but I allowed her to flee to Essos where she gave birth to a daughter."

His half-brother picked up the story of lies, his voice still calm as ever, damn him.

"Some time later, she and her daughter found themselves in Pentos, where they entered the services of Illyrio Mopatis. He and the daughter grew close, and they eventually married. She died giving birth to a boy and girl right around the time my real brother was born, and thus Illyrio's plan began."

There was a moment of silence before Varys gave a little titter as he said,

"A fascinating and quite convenient tale, Prince Jaehaerys, you truly have a way with words like your father before you. However, there is one piece of your puzzle that is missing. I speak of course, of the twin sister of the pretender you believe King Aegon to be."

The surge of relief that coursed through Aegon's veins quickly dispersed when he saw his half-brother give a confident smirk and point towards the young woman kneeling by his feet.

"She is right there, Lord Varys. Perhaps you and Lord Connington should take a closer look at her features if you do not believe me."

Aegon couldn't help himself from looking at her. There was something familiar about her, something that he tried to ignore. The eyes, so similar to his own, seemed to capture his and hold him hostage. A lone memory ran through his mind of him and a dark haired girl playing together. He had always assumed the girl was his sister Rhaenys, but now the girl from his memory looked like the one before him. Now was not the time to think on such things however. Aegon found his voice as he looked at his smirking bastard half-brother.

"Enough of these lies, brother! I know not why you have decided to trust someone else's word over my own, save for some mad attempt to take away my rightful claim. For your treason, there will be no negotiations of your surrender! You will accept each and every term or Seven help me, I will burn your bastard cousin and this lying whore in front of you!"

Aegon kept his gaze upon his half-brother, ignoring the words from their advisors or the growls from the dragons. Regardless of what Jae had tried to do, Aegon hoped he would surrender peacefully. The backup plan he had in case things did not go as planned was one he was loath to use, but he would if he had to. Thankfully, his half-brother seemed to see reason when he said calmly,

"Name your terms."

"A wise move, brother. First, any and all forces you have gathered will be mine. Second, any and all wealth or treasures you have gathered will become mine. You will relinquish your claims upon all three dragons and give them to me. I will chose their new riders. Ser Arthur and Ser Barristan will forswear their oaths to you and pledge their fealty to me. Any and all members of House Stark, your mother and cousin included, will be executed for their crimes against King Aerys. Also, your childless marriage with our Aunt will be annulled, and I will wed Daenerys as my second wife to preserve the bloodlines of Old Valyria. Finally, you will have the option of either execution or taking the Black, where you will spend the rest of your days."

JAEHAERYS

Jae stared at Aegon in shock, not hearing the shouts of outrage from his group. When Aegon didn't budge, he quietly asked,

"Please Aegon, if our friendship meant anything to you, do not do this."

All Aegon did was shake his head once as he replied,

"You are in no position to ask anything of me. You have done this to yourself."

As everyone quieted down, Jae lowered his head, appearing to ponder the demands. After a moment he raised his head, smiling as he said,

"So be it. Captain Strickland, release Lord Aedric and Princess Rhaenyra from their bonds, and detain my cousin and his advisors."

Whatever Aegon was about to say was lost as a member of the Golden Company reached up and threw him from his horse to the ground. As he and the screaming Lord Connington were pulled to their knees, Aedric called out to Jae,

"You can leave Lord Varys be, he's actually on our side."

Jae and his group all looked over at the Spider as he pushed himself to his feet before moving to Jae and Dany and lowered himself down to his knees again.

"I am sorry for the deception, King Jaehaerys," began the Spider, "But seeing as we reached Meereen before you, plans had to be made to continue to fool the pretender into believing my loyalties were his."

Jae glanced at Aedric in surprise, but it was Daenerys who spoke,

"Is this true Aedric?"

"Of course it is Daenerys. He even helped us convince House Tyrell and Martell of their folly. Lady Margaery, her brother Garlan, and Quentyn Martell are all in a ship a few miles down the coast just waiting to meet you and bend the knee to the rightful King and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms."

"Well done then, and thank you for your aid, Lord Varys."

The Spider chuckled and replied,

"It was the least I could do, once I realized my own folly of believing my old friend Illyrio."

"Excuse me, but what the hell is going on?" called out Aegon.

"I believe we would like to know that as well." muttered Lord Tyrion.

"Our apologies for the deception, but we had to keep this close to the chest. A few hours after we met you and Lord Connington, Daenerys and I realized that you might have already had the backing of the Golden Company on your side, so we decided to fix that. We went back to the Iron Bank that night and rewrote our contract, gaining their loyalty immediately instead of once we met. An envoy with a hefty sum of gold was sent to Meereen the next day. We stalled for time by riding to Volantis instead of going by ship, thus giving the envoy enough time to make it to Meereen, as well as allowing Aedric and Nyra's mission to be a success as well. We received word of the Golden Company's acceptance of our contract before we left Volantis. Your strong and true army has been ours since before you even met them in Meereen."

Aegon's mouth opened and closed in shock, unable to even speak. Connington was the same, though his eyes glared daggers at him and Daenerys. He averted his gaze when Ghost stepped forward and gave a low growl. Lord Tyrion whistled as he said,

"Well played, your Graces. It appears you have won the war without even drawing a single blade."

Jae frowned and shook his head. As he and Dany dismounted from their horses, he spoke in a voice directed at Aegon, but meant for everyone,

"This war is not over, at least not yet. Aegon has yet to surrender and agree to our demands."

It was Aegon's turn to glare as he spat out,

"What are they?"

It was Dany who answered,

"They are simple. Upon your surrender, you will be legitimized as a Targaryen, like your sister, and will be given a spot on our Crownsguard. Any claim you believe you have will be rendered null and void when you swear that oath. For his treachery and refusal to bend the knee, Lord Connington will also forswear all his claims by taking the Black, or facing the block."

It was hard to tell exactly what Aegon was thinking, although Lord Connington was making his feelings very clear. Jae ignored him, and instead focused on Nyra's brother. His gaze was alternating between him and Nyra, unable to stay on one face. It felt like an eternity had passed when Aegon finally spoke up.

"You would offer me those terms, even after everything I threatened you with?"

"Yes, we would Aegon. You may not be my brother, but you're still my cousin. We are family."

Aegon's eyes darted to Rhaenyra before he stuttered out,

"But if what you say is true, then my sister and I are Blackfyres. Your House's greatest enemy. Why would you spare us, why would you spare me? I just tried to usurp your throne, why would you allow me to live after such a thing?"

"Children should not be held accountable for the crimes or actions of their parents or ancestors," answered Jae, "Besides, you were only doing what you believed you had to do. All that is in the past now, so do you accept our terms of surrender?"

Right before Aegon opened his mouth to give his answer, Lord Connington roared out,

"Don't fall for your bastard brother's deception, my King! He and his whore are trying to decieve you!"

"Quiet Lord Connington. This decision is Aegon's, not yours." snapped Daenerys.

"You have no right to speak to me that way, woman!"

Everything seemed to move slowly as Lord Connington pushed himself to his feet and for some reason tried to lunge at Jae's wife. He could only watch as Connington's outstretched arm was almost entirely enveloped inside the mouth of Ghost as the direwolf jumped in front of Dany. With a sickening crunch, Ghost pulled away with most of Connington's arm still in his mouth. Then everything seemed to return to a normal speed.

Aegon cried out in pain and horror as Connington crumpled to his knees, blood spurting out of the mangled stump of his right arm. Jae moved quickly, calling for Vermithor to shoot a line of flame upon Blackfyre, heating the blade up. Normal steel would have melted, but the spellforged Valyrian Steel held true. He quickly pressed the blade onto Connington's stump, searing and cauterizing the open wound as best as he could. This time Connington screamed in pain, but did not pass out, though he appeared close to. No one spoke as Jae and Aegon quickly worked together to dress his wounds. Then for some reason, Aegon started to laugh uncontrollably. Jae backed up slowly, putting himself between his cackling cousin and Daenerys. After a minute or so Aegon calmed down enough to start speaking to the group,

"I should have expected such treachery from you, bastard. Jon was right, you never were going to accept my rightful claim. It is a pity though."

"Don't be a fool cousin, you have no army and no allies. You're surrounded."

Aegon gave a bitter laugh, his eyes blazing as he replied,

"On land yes, well done with the Golden Company by the way, but soon enough my new ally from the sea will be arriving."

A jolt of fear shot through Jae's veins as the sound of a man's evil laughter echoed in his mind.

"Please tell me you are not speaking of who I think you are speaking of, please Aegon." begged Dany.

"Oh, but I am, dear Aunt. You two aren't the only ones who have made secret alliances. I needed some way to ferry my army across the Narrow Sea, and Euron Greyjoy was more than happy to offer his armada. Apparently he is now the King of the Iron Islands, at least that's what he boasted of in Volantis."

That jolt of fear had sparked into an entire storm throughout Jae's body as he struggled to catch his breath. Dany spat out,

"You betrayed us to Euron Greyjoy? Are you mad?"

Before Aegon could reply, Arianne muttered,

"Obviously, and a fool as well. No one in their right mind would ever trust the Crow's Eye."

Aegon shook his finger at Arianne, his voice condescending and maniacal,

"Now, now. That's no way to speak of your future husband, Princess Arianne."

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Arianne, a hint of fear in her voice.

"Well I had to give Euron something as thanks for his loyalty. He of course wanted you, Daenerys, but seeing as you are mine, I gave him the next best thing. Congratulations Arianne, you're finally getting what your father always wanted, a king for his daughter. He was overjoyed when he learned of this."

Oberyn stepped forward, his spear level with Aegon's chest. He made to plunge it through him but at the last moment Jae stopped him. He looked Aegon in the eye for a silent minute before saying,

"You will send a message to Euron telling him to never come here or anywhere near us. You will then surrender yourself into our custody."

"Why would I do that?" asked Aegon.

"Maybe because if you don't, you will die? You are surrounded here, if you haven't noticed." muttered Aedric.

"That is true, but if I die here, then so will hundreds of Meereenese citizens."

"What?" breathed Dany.

Aegon laughed again, the sound shrill and grating.

"Do you really think I wouldn't have a plan to stop you from killing me? If you kill me here, then dozens of men loyal only to me will comb through the streets of the city behind us, killing anyone who comes their way."

Jae closed his eyes in shock as he felt Oberyn pull his spear away. Aegon continued to laugh before he spoke up again,

"Now Lord Connington and I will be returning to Meereen. If any attempts are made to follow us, or to lay siege to the city, I will start launching the heads of women and children into your camp. We will continue our negotiations once King Euron joins us."

As Aegon began to help carry Connington away, Jae looked at Daenerys, who gave a short nod. He then called out with a heavy heart,

"Aegon, you cannot win. If you do not agree to our demands and surrender at dawn, we will face you with fire and blood. This is your final chance. Remember cousin, we have dragons. You do not."

Aegon was still and quiet for a minute. He then turned around and spat out to the group,

"You may be the one with the dragons now, but that will soon change. I have the egg."

"It will not hatch for you," said Daenerys, "You are no true dragon."

Aegon stood straight, his eyes filled with madness and rage as he screamed,

"I am Aegon Targaryen, son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell, the rightful heir to the Iron Throne! I am the blood of the dragon, and come this time tomorrow I will be dancing in the ashes my dragon will soon make of your bodies!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We only got two more chapters left, but there is plenty more on the way. Let me know in the comments what you think, and/or how you think the next chapter wil go down. People will die next chapter :)
> 
> Sneak Peak
> 
> "I blame you, for all of it. If it weren't for you, none of this would have happened. I don't care about your reasons or excuses or even the truth, I just blame you. You will not face justice or be given mercy. All you will recieve is my wrath."


	8. Blood of the Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting of a Prince and Princess, a father can't recognize his son, and the end of the Dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter. Only one more left of Part 2 after this. I hope you enjoy!

RHAENYRA

As Rhaenyra made her way through the straight lines of tents, she was grateful to finally be on solid ground again. It wasn't something she thought that she would miss, but after spending the majority of the past two years on a boat, dry land was a blessing. It was dark out, with the only lights being the torches carried by the patrolling Unsullied, and the lights from Meereen. Nyra tried not to think too much on who was in that city. At that moment, a man's voice with a Dornish drawl called out behind her,

"Ah, Princess Rhaenyra, may I join you on your nightly stroll?"

Oberyn Martell stepped out of a nearby tent, quickly adjusting his tunic. Nyra peered inside just in time to see the apparently sleeping form of Ellaria sprawled out on the bed of furs. Nyra answered,

"You can if you wish, but I do have a few people I need to talk to so."

"I do wish it, because as a matter of fact, I need to talk to a few people as well, mainly you."

The two walked side by side as Nyra tried to contemplate whatever the Red Viper wanted to talk to her about. After a little bit of awkward silence, she finally gave in and said,

"All right, what did you want to ask me, Prince Oberyn?"

"Just a few questions, nothing too serious."

Rhaenyra rolled her eyes at that, but continued to listen to Oberyn.

"How do you feel about your new title, Princess? I'm sure it came as a surprise, it certainly did for the rest of us."

"It was a surprise for me as well, although we did discuss the possibility of it, Jae, Dany, and I. Of course I am grateful for the honor of being given the name Targaryen, though I do wish I could have kept my own."

Oberyn's steps faltered for a moment as he coughed out,

"Blackfyre? Why in all the god's names would you wish to keep that accursed name?"

Rhaenyra stood up straight as she replied,

"Because it is my name, and I wish to be able to change the opinions of what people think when they hear that name. I wish to bring honor and pride back to House Blackfyre, or maybe even for the first time."

Oberyn was silent for a few minutes. As they began to make their way further into the camp towards the officer's section, he finally spoke up,

"That is an admirable and noble goal to strive towards, Princess, though I do not believe it to be a wise or even a possible one at this moment. It is going to be difficult enough getting the people to accept House Targaryen again. If you were to reveal that House Blackfyre is still around, it would probably cause a great deal of harm to our campaign."

"I am well aware of the difficulties of my idea, but it is just an idea. Making sure Jae and Dany make it safely onto the Iron Throne and stay there is much more important than what I want. If it meant securing their position, I would gladly give up my name. Is there something else you would like to discuss?"

"Only two more things. I was wondering about your relationship with the cream and gold dragon that you hatched. It seemed like you had barely any time to bond with the dragon before you and Aedric had to leave. I know that having three dragon riders will be a great boon, but are you ready for that?"

Rhaenyra smiled at that, letting her eyes drift to the nearby mountain where she knew the three dragons were roosting. A series of content chirps echoed across in her mind as she said out loud,

"Syrax and I bonded quite quickly on the way back from Valyria. Besides, with the bond she and I share, distance wasn't that much of a problem. Our minds were close enough, and we learned as much as we could through that."

"Fascinating. I do suppose it makes sense, as dragons are magical beings, no matter what the Citadel might want to have us think. I guess we are lucky that the only dragons in existence bonded themselves to you three."

"I've read the books and lore from Zaldrizes' Sikagon, Prince Oberyn. Only those with quite a bit of the Blood of Old Valyria could possibly bond with a dragon like we did. It is even hypothesised that not even a dragonhorn could break that bond, but no one has ever tested that theory, seeing as both dragons and dragonhorns have been extinct for quite some time."

"Indeed, let us hope that that particular theory is never tested."

They continued walking for a few more minutes, making their way up a hill towards the command tent where Jae and Dany resided when Rhaenyra asked,

"What was your final question, Prince Oberyn?"

"It has to do with something that does not make sense to me at all."

"What is that?"

Oberyn stopped to turn and look at her.

"How did you learn of your father's plan in the first place? By your own admission, your father locked you away so that you wouldn't be able to ruin his schemes, so how did you learn of them?"

Rhaenyra grimaced, dark memories fluttering to the surface, but she pushed them back down.

"It is a good question. The main reason was that in the beginning, the security my father placed around me was very relaxed. When he was off and away on trips, the servants would let Aegon and I play together. When my father found out, he had those servants killed, sent Aegon to live with Lord Connington soon after, and I was locked away in that tower. I managed to sneak out a few times to look for my brother, but could never find him. What I did find were old journals of my fathers, and I overheard him a few times speaking to my mother's grave. That's how I learned of his plan."

"I see. Forgive me for asking something personal, but why didn't your father just get rid of you? It would have helped his plan tremendously."

"My father told me that my mother's last words were to 'Look after the children.' He told me that was the only reason why. If my mother hadn't of mentioned the both of us, I would be dead."

"My apologies for bringing up a painful memory. It was not my intention." said Prince Oberyn.

"You had no way of knowing, and besides you wanted to know if I could be trusted, seeing as it is my brother we are up against."

Oberyn smirked and nodded in agreement.

"That is very true, Princess. Even though I have no blood relation to the king, I do consider him my nephew, because Elia would have considered him her son. While a part of me will always wish that the real Aegon and Rhaenys had lived, I am glad that their deaths will be avenged, and their murderers will face justice."

"Not vengeance?" asked Rhaenyra.

"If I had not known of Jaehaerys and thought all was lost, I would have let my thirst for vengeance consume me. However I do know him, and I trust him. On my own, I may have been able to find vengeance for my sister and her children, but with Jae there is a chance for justice."

Rhaenyra nodded at that, and the two of them continued to make their way in comfortable silence to the command tent. A large amount of people were in there. Jae and Dany were in the center, wearing their armor and crowns, and were standing over the kneeling Lord Garlan, Prince Quentyn, and Lady Margaery. As the three of them were finishing their oaths of fealty, Rhaenyra continued to look around the room. As she expected, Ser Barristan and Ser Arthur were there, each standing at the sides of the King and Queen. Captain Strickland of the Golden Company was also there, peering over some sort of paperwork. Finally her eyes found Aedric standing off to the side. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw him.

Aedric had cleaned up quite nicely, if she did say so herself. His hair was trimmed, his face clean-shaven, and his armor was polished. She also noticed with a start that he was wearing both the Stark and the Dayne colors, something he hadn't done before. His greatsword, Starfrost was sheathed at his back, and his battle axe was at his hip. Nyra immediately excused herself from Prince Oberyn who was talking to his niece, and moved to Aedric's side. His hand found hers and he gave it a little squeeze as he whispered,

"Everything all right love?"

She squeezed his hand in return before nodding. She was about to reply when the three who were kneeling stood up. As they did, Rhaenyra also noticed Lord Tyrion and Lord Varys in the background. When Jae caught her eyes as he looked around the room, he looked to the ground for a moment before saying,

"Rhaenyra, I'm so sorry I wasn't able to ..."

Nyra cut him off before he could continue by holding her hand out.

"It's okay, your Grace. You did your best, which is what you promised. My brother is clearly too far gone to sea reason. I take it that you called this meeting to plan on how to deal with him."

It was Daenerys who responded,

"Actually, we already have a plan in place that is happening tonight. We are just waiting for it to begin."

"The stone egg?"

At the nod's of the two monarchs, Rhaenyra felt of a pinch of pain before she shoved it away. She did however, look at them and half pleaded,

"Then all I would ask is that you try to make i as painless as possible, and that I would like to be there when it happens."

Jae gave a short nod but said,

"We will try to get to him before, but we can't guarantee we will get there in time. Are you sure you want to be there?"

"He is still my brother," answered Rhaenyra, "I will be there."

"Very well. Now hopefully the gates will be opened for us, providing the loyalty of the Golden Company is true."

As everyone turned to look at Captain Strickland, he stood up a bit straighter and said,

"Our word is as good as gold, your Graces. You both signed and paid for our contract, the loyalty of the Company is yours."

"We know the loyalty of the Company is ours, but remember we have grown up with sellswords as well. I am not questioning the loyalty of the group, but individuals can be bought."

Captain Strickland grimaced but nodded at that.

"True, but if there are any traitors, they will certainly be in the minority. We all want to go home, and the side with the dragons seems to be our best bet."

Before Jae could answer, the Unsullied Commander Grey Worm entered the large tent and took a knee before Jae and Dany. After they both motioned for him to rise, he stood up and announced,

"Queen Daenerys, King Jaehaerys. A large fire has been spotted in the city, and the gates are open."

Everyone looked in shock for a moment before Dany quickly responded,

"We need to move now then. The King and I will be joined by our Crownsguard, Lord Aedric, Princess Rhaenyra, Lord Tyrell, Prince Quentyn and Oberyn, and Captain Strickland."

"Better prepare yourself for a fight, it's better to be safe than sorry," said Jae, "Either way, this ends tonight."

CONNINGTON

Agonizing pain was all that Jon Connington knew, but he was used to it. His whole life had been nothing but pain ever since he had heard the news of his Silver Prince falling to the Usurper's hammer. Every night he dreamed of the Trident, wishing he could have been here to stop Baratheon's blow, or to even step in front of it. Rhaegar was his best friend, his only friend, and he had failed him. All he had left was Rhaegar's son. He failed the father, he would not fail the son. Only now, he wondered if that had already happened.

He watched as Aegon demolished the room they were in with his sword and bare hands. He was also screaming and ranting about bastards and lying whores, and how he was surrounded by traitors everywhere. A cold dose of fear passed through Jon's mind as he remembered a different Targaryen saying similar words. He pushed himself to his feet and called out to his son,

"My King! We must prepare for our next meeting with your half-brother. We need to ..."

Connington stopped talking when Aegon spun around, a crazed look in his eyes, and his sword in his face. He snarled out,

"There will be no next meeting with my bastard brother. He will die and his armies will be mine! His dragons will be mine! His wife will be mine! All of it will be mine, just like we planned!"

"But that wasn't the plan! After your brother bent the knee, he was supposed to become one of your generals to keep the loyalties of his armies intact while still serving you. The riderless dragon was to be yours, the others were to remain with the others as a sign of faith and goodwill. His marriage was also to be untouched, with their child and yours by Lady Margaery to be betrothed at birth. Why in the name of the Seven did you make those ridiculous demands?"

"I am the King! My word is law! We decided upon those demands you just spoke of before Jae proved himself to be a madman by making those ridiculous accusations!"

Jon looked away for a second, not wanting to see Aerys, or worse, the truth behind Jae's claims. He had recognized Rhaegar in the bastard almost immediately when they first met. But everytime he had compared Aegon to Jaehaerys to find their father in them, he had come up short. He did not want to know why that was. Instead he spoke quietly,

"No son would ever give their mother up to be killed, and no father would ever give their daughter to a monster like Euron Greyjoy. Besides, we never spoke to your Uncle about such a match. Why did you tell Princess Arianne we had?"

Aegon shrugged before taking a sip of wine.

"I personally don't give a fuck what Doran says of the match. King Euron has been nothing but loyal to me, and deserves a reward. My Uncle Doran betrayed me when he granted Jaehaerys sanctuary in Dorne."

As Jon opened his mouth to protest, the door to Meereen's throne room burst open as two men rushed inside, one panting heavily. It was Rolly Duckfield, a hedge knight in Aegon's service, and the snivelling Hizdahr zo Loraq, who acted as the voice of the people of Meereen. Ser Rolly immediately took a knee in front of Aegon while Hizdahr simply bowed from the waist. After a few moments, Aegon motioned for them to rise, and Rolly began to speak,

"Your Grace, Lord Hizdahr and I bring news. We received this message from King Euron."

As Aegon quickly grabbed the scroll and began to read it, Hizdahr spoke up,

"My men have noticed a great amount of the officers of the Golden Company have abandoned their posts and have fled the city towards the army outside. Many of their men have followed them."

Jon barely noticed Hizdahr's words, as he was watching his King stare in rage at the scroll in his hands. He then watched as Aegon ripped the scroll into pieces then picked up those pieces and ripped them up as well. He began to mutter to himself for a minute or so before starting to speak in a low voice,

"It would appear that infighting among the Ironborn and a large amount of unnatural storms in the Smoking Sea will be delaying King Euron from meeting up with us in Meereen any time soon."

Jon swallowed his curse and fears and asked,

"Does he say when he will be arriving?"

"A few months at the leasts, probably more. He does say that he bringing something that will help with the dragons, but that doesn't matter because he is not here!"

No one spoke for a few minutes until Hizdahr said very, very quietly,

"Perhaps we should sue for peace with your half-brother?"

It was if something snapped with Aegon as he spun around to face the Meereenese noble. He put a hand on Hizdahr's shoulder and drove his sword into the man's gut, twisting it a few times. When Hizdahr fell to his knees, Aegon began to bring his sword up and down upon the still body over a dozen times. He stopped suddenly and began screaming at the bloody mutilated corpse beneath him, and all Jon Connington could do was stare in horror. He could see nothing of Rhaegar in the boy he raised as his son, only Aerys. He glances at Rolly, his look of fear probably matching his own. Aegon then stood up and said calmly,

"Lord Connington, Ser Rolly, remove this traitor's body from my sight. Then have everyone build a great wooden structure in the fighting pits, and cover it with pitch, oil, and straw. It is time for me to become a true dragon, and reign fire and blood upon my brother and his army of traitors. I will be reborn and will burn them all."

"What do you mean?" asked Connington.

Aegon turned to face him, and rested his still bloody sword on his cheek right below his eye.

"It is not your place to question your King’s orders, but because you alone have remained loyal, I will reward you. I plan on hatching the egg we stole from my bastard half-brother. Once I do that, the loyalty of the Golden Company will be mine, and we will hold off my brother's armies until Euron arrives."

JAEHAERYS

Jae watched in silence as no one reacted to his cousin's speech atop the wooden platform. He held the fake stone egg above his head and screamed until his voice was hoarse, but no one reacted to his words. The fighting pits of Meereen were filled with people that night, each holding a torch in their hands. He supposed that was the fire that Grey Worm had seen. Still, it looked like Aegon was about to start his mad plan, so Jae looked to see if his was in place. He saw his men waiting in position, looking for his signal.

Before he could give it, Aegon raised his hands holding the large stone above his head, and as one, everyone around them threw their torches onto the wooden platform, igniting it immediately. Jae could still see his cousin through the flames, and it seemed like they locked eyes for a momentas Jae brought his hand down, and ended Aegon's rebellion.

The first crossbow bolt hit Aegon in the gut, following a second and third in his thighs. A few more slammed into his back and chest, but his cousin remained standing. About a dozen more bolts shot through the air and embedded themselves throughout Aegon's body, the last two burying themselves in his throat and eye. All the shots were fired in less than two seconds, and Aegon stood straight and tall to receive all of them. The carved stone egg slipped from his grasp and bounced off of his skull, crushing it, before falling onto and through the wooden platform, creating a large hole. Aegon Blackfyre's lifeless body slipped into that hole and down into the raging inferno below, and was consumed by the fire.

The whole arena was deathly silent save for the flames as Jae and Dany made their way to the ground level, Ser Arthur and Ser Barristan following close behind. Nobody made a move on them anyway. Once they made it to the bottom, they saw Lord Connington on his knees, staring in shock at the raging fire. Aedric and Nyra stood by him, with a headless body of a Westerosi nearby. Jae moved in silence in front of Lord Connington, and heard he was muttering the same thing over and over again.

"I failed the father, I failed the son. I failed the father, I failed the son. I failed my Rhaegar, I failed my son."

After a minute more, he looked up to see Jae standing above him, and he whispered in a reverent tone,

"Rhaegar? is that you? Is it really you?

Jae motioned for him to rise as he shook his head,

"I am Rhaegar's son, his only son, and you are nothing more than a traitor to my father's memory by following a mummer's dragon like Aegon."

For whatever reason, that was enough to convince Lord Connington, as a look of horror and shame came across his features. He began to speak, but Jae cut him off,

"I do not wish to hear any more words come out of your mouth! It was you who kept whispering those words of poison into Aegon's ear. We could have convinced him of the truth if it weren't for you! My friend would still be alive if it weren't for you! So I blame you, Lord Connington. I blame you for all of it! For your crimes of treason against my family, you will not face justice, nor will you be given any mercy. All you will recieve is my wrath."

With that, Jae drew Blackfyre and placed the tip on Connington's chest. He turned them until Jae faced the fire, and Connington's back was to it, and Jae said in a cold voice,

"Step into the fire, my Lord. Step into the fire as you keep your eyes on me. My face, my father's eyes, will be the last thing you ever see."

Nobody moved or said a word as they watched Jae lead Connington backwards towards the fire, tears streaming down both of their faces. They stopped at the edge of the flames, and Jae could barely feel the heat, but Connington could. A flash of pity shot through Jae, and after a moment's hesitation, Jae drove his Valyrian Steel sword into Lord Connington's chest, killing him instantly. His lifeless body fell backwards into the flames, and Jaehaerys turned and walked away in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well now that's over and it's all sunshine and rainbows from now on. :)  
> Please comment if you liked it
> 
> Sneak Peek (Bonus for the Finale)
> 
> "It has been almost nine months. Are you sure Euron is actually coming here, or did Aegon and Connington lie?"
> 
> "She refused to think about that stupid bull helmet, or the one who made it."
> 
> "Should your brother's plan fail, can the Iron Islands survive the wrath of three dragons and their riders?"


	9. Dragonbinder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jae and Dany welcome new family members, while Arya runs into someone from her past, and Victarion has to decide if loyalty to his people or to his brother is more important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here we are folks, the end of this story. This is the biggest chapter I've ever written, almost a third of this whole book. Many things are happening here so pay close attention or you might miss them. Thank you very much in advance and please enjoy.

JAEHAERYS

Jae stood atop the balcony of the Great Pyramid of Meereen in silence, brooding over the city he and his wife were currently controlling. In the nine moons since Aegon's and Connington's deaths, a tense truce had been reached between the people of Meereen and the Targaryen forces. It had been touch and go for awhile, but when effort had been made to start sending the Golden Company to Braavos, tensions had eased. They had only sent about half of the Company and the Unsullied so far, but another large portion was set to leave the next morning. All of a sudden Jae felt someone walk up behind him before pressing a kiss to his bare back.

"You're up early, my love." whispered Daenerys.

Jae opened up to let his wife lean into him and wrap his arm around her.

"I had some stuff I wanted to think about before we started the day. Shouldn't you still be resting?"

Dany frowned a bit before saying,

"It will be two moons by the end of this week, Jaehaerys, and I've been in the training yard for almost a fortnight. I think it's safe to say that I have recovered plenty."

Jae sighed and kissed the top of her head for a few seconds before replying,

"I'm sorry. I know you are feeling better, it's just, can you blame me for worrying about my wife and the mother of my children."

"No, I can't blame you for that, but I'm fine. Daeron and Visenya are fine. Look behind you and see."

Jae did that and looked at two of the most beautiful babies in the world. They looked so peaceful, sleeping in the crib next to their parent's bed, with Ghost resting nearby. Daeron had his father's hair but his mother's eyes, while Visenya had silver hair like Daenerys and grey eyes like her grandmother. After a few months had passed and Euron still hadn't shown up, both Jae and Dany had decided to wait the remainder of Dany's pregnancy here in Meereen. The risk of having to deliver the babes on the boat to Braavos, or worse, Euron intercepting them was too great. So, a large portion of their group stayed with them, and Jae spared no expense in making sure his wife had the best care available. Dany had been slightly annoyed by the amount that Jae had spent, but when the time for the birth came, every service they had bought was money well spent, and well needed.

On the day her water broke, Jae and Dany were visiting the fighting pits, where the dragons had landed and were behaving oddly. All three dragons, Vhagar especially, had immediately crowded around Dany, like they had done in the earlier stages of her pregnancy. This had been a little frightening, seeing as back then the dragons were about the size of a few horse. However, all three dragons had gone through another growth spurt, and now their heads alone were the size of a horse, so it was downright terrifying. Still, they were as gentle as possible, and seemed only to want to be near Dany. Then her water broke, and everything changed.

Immediately, the dragons had become extremely protective, snarling and snapping at anyone who approached. They had allowed Jae to approach his wife, but when he made to pick her up and carry her away, Vhagar had picked him up with her teeth and flung him across the fighting pit. He suffered a few cracked ribs and a dislocated shoulder, but ignored the pain until after the birth, which was obviously going to happen right there thanks to the dragons. Dany's labor took a little bit over a whole day, and Jae had to spend a fortune to keep the healers in the pit with the dragons. Everytime Dany screamed and pushed, they had roared and shot flames into the sky. It had taken all of Jae's warging capabilities to help keep the dragons at bay, and thankfully there were few injuries, save for the hand of one of the distracted healers after a particularly loud bellow. Dany had grabbed it during a large push and shattered the fingers.

Finally, the twins were born, Daeron being the first, with Visenya a close second. The instant Daeron had started wailing, the dragons had shut up and had looked at the babe with an almost curious expression, and a shocked one when Visenya had arrived. They had immediately wrapped their tails and wings around Jae, Dany, and the children, giving the new parents some privacy and shade. It had been a beautiful moment for them all. Thankfully, apart from the expected soreness and exhaustion, Daenerys was fine, and so were the children. Jae was brought out of his musings when Daenerys nudged his shoulder and asked,

"What are you thinking about Jae?"

He chuckled before walking over to the children, with Dany following him close behind. He whispered,

"I was thinking about the day they were born, and how loud the dragons roared while you were in labor."

"I definitely remember that," snorted Dany before she continued, "Have you heard from Vayrs about what the people of Meereen are calling our children?"

Jae shook his head, but relaxed at his wife's amused expression.

"They are calling both of them Dragonborn, thanks to how close the dragons were during the birth. Daeron Dragonborn and Visenya Dragonborn of House Targaryen."

Jae laughed softly, not wanting to wake the babies. Their feeding and waking schedule had been hectic, but he and Dany were working through it. While it had not surprised Jae, it had surprised a few of their new allies when Dany herself had decided to feed her children instead of a midwife. A few weeks after the birth, Quentyn Martell had commented on the peculiarity of a Queen breastfeeding. When Jae told her of this, they arranged a meeting that Quentyn had to remain in for the entirety of, seeing as it concerned Dorne. That entire meeting Dany had feed both Daeron and Visenya, and did so in every meeting if needed. No one said anything.

As Jae looked at their tiny bodies, and the dark circles around Dany's eyes, he was struck by a sudden fear. He stopped himself from blurting his thoughts out, and instead took the time to compose them. After a minute or so he whispered softly,

"There's something I would like to talk about, but I know you probably won't like it. Still, would you please hear me out on this?"

Dany sighed, seemingly knowing exactly what Jae had wanted to talk about. They sat down on the bed next to their children, and Jae began,

"It's been almost a year, and Euron still hasn't shown up. I'd like to hope that Aegon lied, but I do not want to take that risk. Either way, he will be heading here, and I would rather you and our children not be anywhere near him. Perhaps you and the children should join the ships leaving for Braavos tomorrow?"

Daenerys was quiet for a few minutes before she replied in a quiet but strong voice,

"I understand where you are coming from Jae, truly I do. But Euron wants me, remember? If he catches a hint of me being anywhere else, he will go there instead. As long as I am in Meereen, Euron will come here, and we can use that to our advantage. Even if he does bring an armada, what can wooden ships do against a dragon, let alone three?"

"We have always had the advantage of numbers over him," answered Jae, "And perhaps even skill now. But you remember what he did to the Water Gardens with only one ship. What's to stop him from distracting us with a fleet in the harbor, while joining a raiding party through the city like last time?"

"His pride and ego for one. Euron will want to make sure we know he's coming for us. Also seeing as he is calling himself a King, he will need to prove his strength to the Ironborn by leading from the front. Which is what we need to do as well Jae. We have to show a united front, and that means facing him together."

Jae sighed and gave her hands a soft squeeze that she returned before he said,

"I know that Dany, it's just that everytime I hear his name or think about him, all I can see is him dragging you by the hair down those docks while Uncle Arthur and Oberyn tried to get you away from him."

"I remember that as well, but I've realized a very important thing when it comes to Euron and his tactics."

"What's that?" asked Jae.

"He attacks the weak and the vulnerable, and we are neither of those things anymore, my King. We are dragonlords with the blood of Old Valyria coursing through our veins, and we share an unbreakable bond with our dragons. What can one man hope to do against us?

Jae nodded and kissed his wife, his fears put at ease at least for now. The rest of the morning passed without incident. Daeron and Visenya woke up, and were promptly taken care of by Jae and Dany. After a quick breakfast, they spent an hour or so in the training yard before joining Rhaenyra on their way to the fighting pits. Vermithor, Vhagar, and Syrax were too large to all land in the main fighting pit together, so the riders went one by one. After securing the saddles on the dragons and then themselves in the saddles, the three went on their morning flight.

As usual, the experience of flying was unlike anything Jae had ever dreamed of. They spent a few more hours flying above the bay, going through as many training exercises as they could. If it weren't for the upcoming council meeting later that day, Jae would have wanted to stay up in the air until nightfall. However, that was something he could do, so it was with a heavy heart he bade Vermithor to land on the ground. Everyone had a quick mid-day meal before moving to the council chambers.

"Thank you all for coming. First things first, what is the situation here in Meereen specifically, and the surrounding area in general?" asked Jae.

"The usual throughout the city," answered Lord Varys, "Though the bribes Lord Tyrion thought of and the fact that this is only a temporary location is doing it's job in appeasing the nobles of this city. My little birds in Astapor and Yunkai however, are singing a different song."

"What have your spies found out, Lord Varys?" asked Dany.

It was difficult to trust the spymaster, what with how much damage he had done to them while on the side of Aegon. Still, he had been quick to change his loyalties when he learned of the truth and keen to prove them to be true. Jae continued to listen.

"The Wise Masters of both cities, Astapor especially, have been very vocal in wishing to remove the treacherous foreigners from Meereen. They just banned all trade to this city about a few weeks ago, we should be feeling these effects soon. Both of their navies have also grown, and Astapor is making no efforts to hide their attempts at finding and training more Unsullied. Your actions in taking the Unsullied and freeing them, as well as the other slaves here in Meereen are not being taken well by either city."

"What about the city we are in now?" asked Jae.

It was Lord Tyrion who answered after taking a short sip of wine,

"Hard to say something, let alone do something, to the group who has three very large dragons and a larger army. In giving any slave that comes to you their freedom, and threatening any of their former masters that come after them, you're walking a thin line. The masters of Meereen can't do much about it for now, but if a sizable threat from Astapor and Yunkai were to occur, they might think it worth the risk."

"Are you saying we should stop freeing the people who come to us?" snapped Dany.

Tyrion held his hands up before responding,

"What I am saying is that one day soon, you two are going to have to choose one or the other. We can't fight a war on slavery and fight a war for Westeros at the same time, it's just not possible. This cause is an admirable one, and a fight worth fighting for, no one disagrees with that. But perhaps this isn't the time to pick this fight. As barbaric as the custom of slavery is, it is still a custom that has built this culture and many others on this continent. It will be practically impossible to rid the world of slavery as we are now, but once you both sit on the Iron Throne, there could be a better chance."

"You make a valid point, Lord Tyrion. Our goal right now is Westeros, and we need to keep focus on that, but we will not forget the people here. Speaking of Westeros, what news have we heard of the Seven Kingdoms. Have either of your fathers written back to you?"

Quentyn and Garlan stepped forward. Of his own choice, Garlan had joined the Crownsguard, and wore the armor and his new Valyrian Steel sword with pride. Prince Quentyn answered,

"My father has answered the carefully worded letter you sent on my behalf, your Grace, and appears to be none the wiser. As you wrote, he believes Aegon has convinced you to bend the knee, and says that he has a gift for the rightful King waiting in Sunspear, though he does not say what it is. He did however, ask if we had any news of Arianne, which is why I still believe he had no part in her betrothal to the Crow's Eye."

"Even I don't believe father would do such a thing Quentyn, but he did betray King Jaehaerys and Queen Daenerys. The second someone else showed up, he switched sides and turned on Jae and Dany." answered Arianne.

"So you would use that excuse to justify betraying our father?"

Before the siblings could continue arguing, Jae spoke up,

"Enough! No one is betraying anyone. I'm sorry Quentyn, Ari, but my wife and I can not, and do not trust your father anymore. When we return to Dorne, Prince Doran will step down and Princess Arianne will take his place. Now, what is the response of House Tyrell, Ser Garlan?"

"Almost the same, your Graces, though it would appear that my grandmother does suspect a little more than Prince Doran. Everyone is relieved that Margaery is safe though. It would seem that my eldest brother and my Grandmother are preparing for any outcome. I do believe that Willas could be better trusted in the Reach, seeing as my father will still wish to have Margaery be the Queen."

"That will have to be a dream your father should give up on," said Dany, "He should be more concerned with whether or not House Tyrell shall remain in control of the Reach when we return. Lord Willas will be taking the reigns of your House either way."

"Now that that is settled, is there any other news my Lords?"

Varys leaned forward once more, holding out a thick scroll.

"I have heard a very interesting tale in regards to the remnants of House Stark. It would seem that Lord Robb and Lady Arya are not the only surviving members of their family. I just received word last night that Lady Sansa and Lord Rickon are alive and well."

Everyone stared in shock at the calm eunuch before Tyrion found his voice and said,

"Are you certain?" 

"I am absolutely certain. It would appear that after the murder of King Joffrey, Lady Sansa was taken away to the Vale by none other than Petyr Baelish. She was betrothed and later married to Harrold Hardyng, the prefered heir to the vale, before revealing herself to the Lords and Ladies of the Vale. In the resulting confusion, Baelish and Robyn Arryn died, leaving Lady Sansa and her husband as the Lord and Lady of the Vale. Your former wife was quick to appropriate Lord Baelish's spy network in the Vale without knowing that a few of them actually work for me instead."

"And Lord Rickon? Robb said that Theon Greyjoy killed him and Bran when he took over Winterfell." said Aedric.

"That was a lie told by Lord Greyjoy when the two Stark boys escaped from the castle. Now I am currently unaware as to where Lord Bran is, but I did find out that Rickon was left in the care of House Umber. After the defeat of King Stannis, they and a certain Davos Seaworth managed to smuggle Lord Rickon down to White Harbor, where he remains today. He is joined there by of course Lord Manderly, as well as Lord Umber, Lord Reed, Ser Brynden Tully, and Asher Forrester. Asher has told the Northern Lords your story. Lord Manderly however, wishes to install Rickon as King in the North before meeting with you. He and Ser Brynden have reached out to Lord Royce of the Vale in the name of King Rickon. They do not yet know of Lady Sansa, but she is in the process of mobilizing the Knights of the Vale to head North in aid of her younger brother. House Bolton will still have the numbers, especially since a great deal of House Frey's armies are in Winterfell."

"The Starks will have our aid," said Jae, "We can worry about who will sit in Winterfell later after the battle is won. So far our plan is threefold. We need to accomplish these tasks in relatively the same amount of time in order for us to have the advantage of surprise. One group will go to Sunspear to regain Dorne's loyalty. Another will travel to Highgarden to accept House Tyrell's oath of fealty. Finally, the last group will head North to help win the fight against House Bolton. We should begin sending troops to ..."

Whatever Jae was about to say was silenced when one of the soldiers rushed into the room and gasped out,

"Huge fleet of ships, coming up the bay! They fly the flags of Astapor and Yunkai, but the largest amount are Ironborn ships. The Silence leads them."

Instead of the usual fear, all Jae felt was a burning rage, and it looked like Daenerys felt the same. He called out for the dragons in his mind as he growled out,

"He's here. Daenerys, Rhaenyra, and I will deal with him and his fleet on our dragons, but be prepared to fend off any ship that makes it to the shore. Aedric, I want you to make sure that there isn't any surprise force coming from behind us."

With that, everyone rushed off to their respective positions, like they had planned. Jae, Dany, and Nyra all donned their armor as fast as they could before saddling up the dragons on top of the Great Pyramid. Before Daenerys climbed up Vhagar, Jae leaned over and kissed her before saying,

"I love you, Dany. We do this together."

"Together." she responded.

Then the three Targaryens climbed upon their bonded dragons and flew off to meet the Ironborn Fleet.

ARYA

'If mother could see me now, her face would probably be as red as her hair.'

The instant the thought came across her mind, Arya winced in guilt. Her mother was dead, and she would give anything just to even hear her scold her for not acting ladylike. Now was not the time to think on such things, seeing as a spear was coming right for her face. Quick as a snake, Arya ducked and twirled inside, slashing forward with her training sword, causing her opponent to leap back. She continued her forward dance, with leaps, twirls, and jabs until Nymeria Sand was backed into a corner, Arya's blade at her throat. The Sand Snake grinned,

"Well done Arya, you might just make an honorary Sand Snake yet."

"I think I am now, seeing as I beat you."

Nymeria continued to grin before motioning toward the tip of her spear, then poked at Arya's left shoulder.

"Had this been a real fight, I would have absolutely put some sort of poison upon all of my weapons. You may have got the killing blow just now, but you've been dead ever since I landed that jab on your shoulder a few minutes ago."

Arya frown and growled as she spat out,

"But that's cheating! Besides, you may have got me in a real fight, but you didn't poison your spear in the training yard, so I won."

"What you call cheating, I call surviving. It's a skill you should learn about. And yes, you did win this spar, but I would have won the real battle. Tell me, little wolf, which do you think is more important?"

Arya looked away and grumbled,

"The real battle."

"Exactly," said Nymeria, "Now, your brother should be training right now, so how about we go over there and watch. We can make it a race?"

Right as she finished saying the word race, Nymeria dashed off with Arya close behind. As the two raced each other through the fortress of Dragon's Rose, Arya thought about her friendship with the Sand Snake and her time in Braavos. Before everything had happened, the old Arya would have done anything to get out of the castle, seeing as her cousin Jae had told her and Robb they couldn't leave. Now, she was just grateful that at least some of her family was still alive, and they had to stay with her. She didn't mind spending time with her Aunt Lyanna or Lady Ashara either. Arya was flabbergasted when she saw Lyanna in the training yard after she had spent the day in a dress and sitting in a sewing circle with the other ladies. Lyanna Stark was apparently a woman who could be both a warrior and a lady, which made her one of the most interesting people in the world to Arya. Everyone back at Winterfell told her how much she resembled her Aunt, except that Lyanna was much prettier than she would ever be. But perhaps she could be like her in other ways. She could be a warrior, like she wanted, but a lady as well, which would make her mother proud. Arya hoped that was still possible.

Ever since that day, she had been training twice as hard than before. That had brought her to the attention of some of the Sand Snakes that had returned to Braavos from Meereen, Nymeria especially. She had taken Arya under her wing, so to speak, and had helped her with her training. The combination of Water Dancing from Syrio, the Northern way of fighting from the Roses descended from Bear Island, and the Dornish techniques from Nymeria had helped turn Arya into a lethal weapon just like the sword Jae had gifted her before they left. It was a Water Dancing blade like the one she had lost in King's Landing, only this one was made of Valyrian Steel. She named it Needle.

By that time, Arya had caught up to Nymeria at one of the balconies overlooking the sparring courtyard. A considerable crowd had gathered there, but that wasn't too surprising given who was fighting. Four men were in the ring, two on each side. Arya's brother Robb and her Uncle Benjen were on one side, and on the other was Sandor Clegane and Cregan Rose-Stark. After a moment's pause, the battle began.

"It looks like it's going to be a match between size and speed. Robb and Benjen should have the advantage as long as they keep moving, but that will change if they tire before the battle is over. What do you think Arya?"

Arya wasn't paying attention to Nymeria's words, and she was barely paying attention to the fight below her. Instead her focus was entirely on the young lady sitting next to her Aunt Lyanna and Lady Ashara. That lady's entire focus was on Robb, and that bothered Arya. When Nymeria nudged her shoulder, she spat out,

"What's she doing here, watching Robb?"

"Who? Oh, the Lady Margaery. Well I assume she enjoys watching Robb. They appear to be friends and have been spending some time together these past few months."

Arya knew that, she remembered when Margaery had shown up with some more soldiers from the Golden Company. Apparently, Jae and Dany had decided to send her to Dragon's Rose for her safety amongst other reasons that Arya didn't know about. She and Robb had been spending a lot of time walking the castle grounds and talking together. Margaery had even spent some time with her, for whatever reason. Arya could easily tell why Sansa had become friends with her, and she was glad her older sister had a friend while in King's Landing. She did not know why Margaery was interested in her though, but she did appreciate the effort. Suddenly Arya realized what Nymeria was insinuating and she hissed out,

"But Robb's already married!"

"Was married, and so was she. They have a few more things in common than just that. Also, as much as I think that the Reach is full of pompous fools, an alliance between those two would be a beneficial one for your cousin. But besides all that, haven't you noticed that your brother has been smiling more often nowadays?"

"I know, I just don't want him to leave Winterfell when we go home to be with her."

Nymeria gave a great big laugh that drew the attention of many of the onlookers of the duel. Even Sandor and Cregan glanced up for a moment, to the advantage of Robb and Benjen. She continued to laugh until her face was nearly as red as Arya's, but managed to stop before she leaned against the railing and gasped out,

"Oh little wolf, it's not the man who leaves his home, it's the woman. If they did marry, then Margaery would be the one that would leave her home to go to Winterfell, not the other way around. One day, the same might happen to you, if you ever find that smith of yours."

Arya glared at the Sand Snake and stormed off, not wanting to talk about anything more with her. She hated that she had told Nymeria about Gendry, but she never said she liked him. He was her friend, until that Red Woman came and stole him. She shook her head as she made her way to the armory, not wanting to think about him. He was probably dead. Though apparently his ghost remained to haunt her, because on the shelves of the armor was a slightly familiar bull's helmet. It looked a bit better than the one from before, but Arya rushed off before she could get a slower looks at it. She did not want to see the maker's mark on the helm, and she was going to be late for the dinner, again.

The dinner in question was thankfully a quiet affair, with only her, Robb, Aunt Lyanna, Uncle Benjen, Lady Ashara, and Lady Margaery present. Arya poked at her meat before Aunt Lyanna cleared her throat and asked,

"Forgive me, Lady Margaery, but I have more questions about my grandchildren, if you wouldn't mind?"

"Of course I don't mind, your Grace. I would be happy to tell you what I know." said Margaery.

"Thank you. Now, hopefully if everything went well, the twins should be almost two months old by now. Do you know if they had decided on any names beforehand?"

Margaery took a small sip of wine before setting the simple goblet down and answering,

"We did speak of it once, before I left. They believed it to be a boy and a girl, or at least hoped for it. Queen Daenerys said that they were partial to Daeron for a boy, and Visenya for a girl."

Lyanna's eyes widened in surprise before she asked,

"Visenya? Why did they choose that name?"

"The Queen said that she always admired that ancestor of hers. Does the name mean something else to you?"

"Visenya was the name we had chosen for Jae had he been born a girl, like Rhaegar thought he would be. In fact, Rhaegar had been so sure of it that he didn't even want to listen or think of any boy names," said Lyanna, "When Jae was born, we were at a lost as to what we were going to name him. I at first thought of naming him Aegon, in honor of his brother, but decided against it seeing especially as we were in Dorne. Arthur and I came up with the name Jaehaerys."

As her Aunt looked away towards the window, Arya sought to break the now somber mood by saying,

"Smart move. Imagine how confusing it would have been if both of them were named Aegon."

That seem to do the trick as everyone started to chuckle. Then Lady Ashara leaned toward Arya and said,

"I have a question about your time with the Brotherhood, if you don't mind me asking, Arya?"

"Go ahead." Arya answered.

"You said that the leader was a certain Beric Dondarrion, correct?"

At Arya's nod, Ashara continued,

"Did he happen to have a squire with him? A young boy with silver blonde hair?"

"Edric? What about him?"

Ashara sighed with relief before saying in an animated tone,

"How is he? Is he well?"

"Edric was fine, at least he was the last time I saw him. Who is he to you, and why do you care?"

Ashara leaned back, smiling as she said,

"Edirc is my brother's son, my nephew. He was sent to be Lord Beric's squire when a betrothal was made between my youngest sister Allyria and Lord Beric. Did you know him well?"

"He was my friend. He, Gendry, and I would all train together before the Brotherhood learned who I really was. Neither Edric nor Gendry treated me any differently which I was glad about. The two always seemed to be fighting each other over who got to train or ride with me for whatever reason."

That also seemed to make everyone chuckle as well, though Robb did frown a bit for a moment. Heat rushed to her cheeks as she realized once more what they were thinking.

"Gross! It wasn't like that, they were just my friends. By the Old Gods, you lot and Nymeria both seem to think the same thing, but it's not true. We were just friends, okay?"

"I believe you Lady Arya, sorry Arya, that those two were your friends. But doesn't a great deal of things start from friendship?"

With that Arya shot up from her seat, ignoring the calls of protest as she stormed out of the room. She loved her family, but sometimes they were idiots. Edric was a friend, just a friend. She did not want to think about Gendry either. He was dead, and who knows where Edric was, if he was even alive still. Being in the Brotherhood was almost as dangerous as being sold off to a Red Woman, probably. As she made her way to the stables, she cleared her mind of Edric, and that stupid bull.

The Essosi Direwolves were beautiful to look at. They were smaller than a regular direwolf, but still much larger than a regular wolf. Their coats were a lighter shade as well. Arya always liked coming down to the stables to help groom them whenever she wished to calm her mind. The couple dozen young direwolves all immediately woke up when she entered, and Arya was covered in excited licks and happy barks. They reminded her of her direwolf, Nymeria, wherever she was now, if she was still alive. She pushed that from her mind as she continued to brush one of the direwolves, although her eyes began to close. She fought against sleep, but lost.

'When she opened her eyes, she was running on all fours through some sort of forest. She could hear the frantic heartbeat of her prey as she drew nearer. After a few moments, she caught up to him and leapt upon the man before tearing her throat out with her fangs. As a river of blood began to spurt out of him, she took a closer look at her soon to be dinner. The man was weasel faced, with an emblem of two towers upon his surcoat. She snarled and tore at the sigil with her paws. Inside the dead man's torn coat was a sealed scroll, with an X on the ink. No it wasn't an X, it was a person stretched out, a sigil that Arya knew and hated as much as the other sigil. Suddenly she felt a pull North, and heard a familiar howl. The howl of kin.'

"MiLady! Can you hear me? Please wake up!"

Groaning in pain at her headache, Arya pushed herself to her feet. It was still dark out, and she was still in the stables, with the direwolves sleeping around her. Still out of it, she tripped and stumbled while making her way out of the stables, but thankfully the guard was able to catch her before she fell. Arya quickly mumbled a short thanks as she looked at the guard, who had dark hair and familiar blue eyes. Those eyes widened in surprise, just like hers did, as they both exclaimed at the same time,

"Gendry?"

"Arya?"

After a moment of surprise, Arya felt herself be wrapped up in a strong bear hug. For a moment, she allowed it, but then quickly started to kick his shins. Gendry just chuckled but let her go. He had definitely grown up, that was for sure. He was taller, with his hair cut short, and a few scars that Arya could see. She also noticed a blue rose stitched onto his leather armor. She punched that and said,

"Since when have you been a bloody Rose? I thought the Red Woman killed you! Where have you been? What have you been doing? Why are you here?"

"Seven hells Arya, you always were curious. To answer your first question, I've been part of the Roses for a few years now. The Red Woman took me to Stannis and Dragonstone to be sacrificed, but one of his men freed me. I was hiding in King's Landing under everyone's noses for a couple months when I started hearing about the Company of the Roses in the taverns. Everyone was talking about how they were an up and coming sellsword company, but with honor, because they were formed by Starks. So I decided that I should go and join them instead of making weapons for the Lannisters. Besides, I figured that if you were still alive, you might find your way to them or something."

"But Robb and I have been here for months now, almost a year, and I haven't seen you in the castle. Where have you been?"

Gendry sat down and Arya joined him, leaning against the stone wall. He began to speak again,

"Around the same time I arrived, your cousin was leaving for the expedition to Valyria. I think our ships passed each other under the Titan. Anyway, as soon as I got to Braavos, they quickly realized my skills as a blacksmith, so they sent me to Qohor."

"Why Qohor?" asked Arya.

"Some of the best blacksmiths come from Qohor, like my former master, Tobho Mott. It's one of the few places that can still teach you how to reforge Valyrian Steel. So I apprenticed under the guild that taught Master Mott, and took contracts for the Roses from their outpost in the city. That's where I've been for the past couple of years. I just got here last night, since Commander Rose-Stark is calling everyone back to Braavos."

"So do you know how to forge Valyrian Steel now?"

"No one can forge Valyrian Steel anymore, but I can rework existing pieces into different ones. Anyway enough about me, where have you been? How did you escape from the Brotherhood?"

Sparring no details, Arya jumped into telling Gendry her story. He stayed quiet till the end before giving a low whistle and saying,

"So your brother Robb wasn't killed at the Twins, and your cousin has three dragons? And to think a lot of the common folk called you Starks dull. I think I'd like to meet your cousin and your brother, if you don't mind that is, Lady Arya."

Gendry laughed as Arya shoved him back to the ground. She then pulled him up before saying,

"Come on, you can meet my brother and Aunt right now if we hurry."

"Actually," a voice called out, "We can meet right this second."

Arya's Aunt Lyanna stepped out of the shadows, with a lit torch in hand. She smiled at Arya.

"We were wondering where you went after you stormed off from dinner. Why don't you introduce your friend, niece."

Before Arya could say a word, Gendry stepped forward into the light and quickly said,

"Name's Gendry, your Grace. I'm Robert Baratheon's son, bastard son."

Lyanna's eyes widened in shock as she took a step back before pausing and glancing over at Arya.

"Gendry? As in my niece's friend Gendry?"

"That's the one. I'm sorry if I frightened you, your Grace, I wasn't meaning to. I know I take after my father, but don't worry I want nothing to do with him."

Arya's Aunt seemed to relax at those words, as did Gendry and Arya. She opened her mouth to speak but as she did so a loud horn blew across the battlements.

"That's the signal for an attack but, look out!"

Suddenly the night sky was lit up by a colley of flaming arrows that were coming down right in the open courtyard where Arya, Gendry, and Lyanna were.

VICTARION

As the Iron Victory made its way through the calm sea, Victarion Greyjoy stared ahead with a look of pure hatred. The target of his gaze was only a few hundred feet away. The Iron Captain wanted to do nothing more than swim over to the Silence and sink his Valyrian Steel axe into his brother's skull. Nothing would bring him more pleasure, not even a dozen salt-wives from a whore house in Lys. But cursed be the kinslayer, and Victarion wasn't foolish enough to tempt the wrath of the Drowned God. He was a loyal brother, almost as loyal as a dog, if not more. Euron may be willing to piss on tradition and commit any crime he pleased, but not Victarion. Though by the Drowned God and any other gods that were out there, he wished he had had the courage to do more at the Kingsmoot.

When he had received word of his older brother and King's passing, Victarion had immediately withdrawn from the shattered North. He had sailed to Pyke expecting to take up the Driftwood Crown and to continue Balon's dream. His brother had no other heir. Rodrik and Maron were dead, Theon was too much a greenlander and was a prisoner of the Boltons anyway, and Asha was a prisoner of Stannis and a woman. There was no one else but him. He was glad when he saw his niece and nephew at the Kingsmoot, though they both bore many scars from their time in chains. He and everyone else could see that the scars of Balon's only living son were in his mind, and was therefore too weak to sit on the Salt Throne. Many a people were surpsrised when Asha threw her name in the ring, but not Victarion. For all her faults as a woman, his niece was a true reaver. He planned on rewarding her once he took the crown for her bravery if she remained loyal. Alas, the tie between him and his niece was broken by the Crow's Eye rowing up to the beach, blowing that foul and dark horn of his.

His brother played on the people's greed, weaving a tall tale of a supposed long lost Prince that would help pave the way to an age ruled by the Ironborn. He spoke of three great beasts across the Narrow Sea, saying that his horn had the power to bind them to his will. Victarion remained silent, seething in rage as he listened to his cursed brother win over the crods. Asha and Theon however did not go so quietly. They accused him of murdering their father, and Euron admitted his guilt. When he turned his back on them, Theon struck out with a dagger, which only glanced off of Euron's armor.

Victarion and the rest could only watch as Theon Greyjoy was beaten to death by the fists and the boots of his Uncle. Asha, brave as she was, cried no tears over the death of her brother. But when some of Euron's mute men brought her to her knees and Euron forced a dark blue liquid down her throat, she began to scream like some sort of banshee. Even days later when the fleet set sail, Asha was still screaming deep in the jail cells of Pyke.

Finally Aeron Damphair, the godly brother of Victarion and Euron, had stepped forward and denounced the Crow's Eye. Euron had only laughed before challenging him to see how many times he could come back from the Drowned God's embrace. As Aeron prepared to wade out into the waves, Euron grabbed him and shoved his head into a large three foot wide bucket filled with sea water. He continued to hold Aeron's head down with a wooden stick with a hook at the end. Suddenly more of Euron's mutes stepped forward and dumped buckets of burning coals into the water, bringing it to a boil. Euron kept the head of Aeron down in the boiling water as his body started thrashing around, till it fell still. Then it was Victarion's turn as Euron faced him.

Even with rage in his heart, and kinslaying on his mind, the Iron Captain fell to his knees in front of the Crow's Eye, knowing there was no chance for him now. Euron then took a goblet and filled it with some of the cloudy water of Aeron's bucket, then some of the blood of Theon's smashed in face, a few tears from Asha, and then topped it off with seawater. He gave it to Victarion, who drank it in one gulp, ignoring the burning in his throat. He looked none in the eyes, knowing they saw him as more of a monster than Euron. Soon after Euron sent him off on a voyage to Slaver's Bay to pick up his soon to be bride, Daenerys Targaryen. He even gave him the horn he called Dragonbinder to aid him in his quest. Victarion simply bowed before his new King and set off.

Of course, Victarion had no intention of following through on his oath to his cursed brother. He had planned on using Dragonbinder for himself, then killing the sellsword consort of Daenerys before taking her for his own. But by more foul magic, and the cursed Shade of the Evening that Euron drank more than water, he was able to figure out about the plan of his brother. hen Victarion had arrived at the docks of Volantis with his fleet, Euron was there waiting for him with the Silence and a couple dozen more ships. The Crow's Eye quickly took command of the two fleets, and like a good younger brother, Victarion followed. Euron had also taken back Dragonbinder, and it resided in the captain's quarters of his ship. The only good thing, if it could be counted as good, was that Victarion picked up an extra crew member. He was a follower of the Lord of Light, and had dark skin with red hair. His name was Moqorro. Some of the crew had been hesitant to welcome the priest aboard, but Victarion silenced their questions. Moqorro had shown him things in the flames, things that not even Euron knew.

Victarion then heard and then saw one of his crew members step up next to him. He glanced over to see it was Wulfe One-Eye, one of his more loyal crewmen. Euron had bought out some of his original crew with bribes and threats, but Wulfe remained. The two remained silent for a few minutes before Wulfe began to speak up quietly,

"Few weeks ago, when we were all docked in Astapor, I talked with quite a few of the other captains. They're worried about Euron's plan."

Victarion stiffened and growled out,

"It is not their place to talk about or worry about their King's commands, and Euron is the King."

"Aye, through kinslaying, treachery, and blasphemy. He spat on the sanctity of the Kingsmoot, and took a shit on all our traditions as Ironborn. Now he wants to risk it all with some fucking horn? We all know what happened the last time a king from the Iron Islands defied a dragon rider. If this horn doesn't work, what's stopping all three of those dragons from flying over to Pyke and turning it into another Harrenhal, and then doing the same to the rest of the islands?"

Victarion sighed in frustration before turning to face his friend,

"And what would you have me do? Betray my brother, my King? I am no oathbreaker, and I am no kinslayer Wulfe. What can I do?"

"The men and the captains are afraid of Euron, that's true, but they know you. It was you who fought for Balon in our rebellion, and it was you who lead the raids on the North. I know he is your brother, and that he deserves your loyalty, but what about your loyalty to your people? If Euron fails, he risks the destruction of our entire culture."

With that Wulfe walked away, leaving Victarion alone with his cursed thoughts for a few more hours. Reluctantly, he made his way below decks and called for Moqorro to joined him in his cabin. Before he entered, Victarion stoked the brazier and made the flames dance a little higher. As Moqorro enters and walks by the brazier, it burned even brighter. The Red Priest says in his deep voice,

"You asked to see me, Captain?"

Victarion nodded and pointed toward the brazier.

"I need answers, priest, answers that perhaps only your Lord of Light has. My brother's plan with the horn, will it work? Or will he damn us all in fire?"

"The one true god gives his knowledge only to those who are worthy of it. Are you one of those men, or are you false, Victarion Greyjoy?"

"Who I am is the man who will make you eat your guts and eyes if you don't do what I tell you to do. Now look into the fire and tell me what you see."

Moqorro smiled and nodded, before turning to face the brazier. He waved his hands over the flames, and they shot up to almost lick the ceiling before dying down. For what seemed like an hour, the Red Priest stared intently into the flames without blinking. After awhile, he pulled back as if struck and began to rub his eyes. Victarion quickly offered him a drink before asking,

"Well, what did you see?"

"My faith has been awarded," exclaimed Moqorro, "The Lord of Light has deemed me to be worthy of his knowledge and has blessed me with a vision. A vision of which the details I will bestow upon you, noble son of Quellon Greyjoy."

Moqorro sat up straighter and said in a strong tone,

"In my vision granted to me by R'hllor, I saw a great wave building in size and strength until it blacked out teh very sun itself. This wave swept towards the East, where three dragons flew. As the wave began to crest over the dragons, the three dragons combined their dragonfire into one beam of fire that struck the wave. A great deal of steam arose from the blast, and I could see no more."

The room was silent as Victarion stared at Moqorro.

"That's it? Is there no more to your vision? What happened next?"

Moqorro held his hands out and answered,

"That is all I was shown. I was unable to see if either the dragons or the wave won."

"But surely the wave won, right? Water douses fire, no flames burn upon the sea."

Moqorro shrugged before glancing at the brazier.

"Usually you would be correct, Captain, but the flames from a dragon are not usual flames. Dragons are fire made flesh, R'hllors chosen champions against the coming darkness. They are ancient beings of pure magic and fire."

Victarion swallowed a small burst of uncertainty.

"But what about Dragonbinder? Euron said the ancient Valyrians used it to bind and tame wild dragons to their will."

Moqorro stood up and began to walk out of the room. He stopped at the door and said,

"Your brother is acting on only a part of a knowledge that has been lost for centuries. It is true that those ancient horns were used to bind wild dragons to the will of the wielder of the horn, but the three dragons that exist today already have riders."

The next few days found Victarion in quiet contemplation. Nearly every night he called Moqorro to his cabin to read the flames, and everytime the vision was the same. It was at the end of these days of confusion that Victarion received a summons from his brother. For some reason he also asked for Wulfe One-Eye. With no other option, the two agreed and took a rowboat to the Silence.

His brother's ship was manned in total silence, seeing as Euron had torn out the tongues of all of his crew. No one looked at Victarion or Wulfe as they made their way to the main cabin of the Silence. For all his depravity, Euron was one of the best reavers in the known world, and the proof of it was displayed in and around the walls of his cabin. One side of the red wood walls were covered in nautical maps depicting in great detail places that Victarion had barely heard of. Another side had shelves filled with strange objects, beautiful weapons, and large fist sized jewels. The back wall and desk were covered in a light smoke, obscuring Victarion's sight of his brother, though he heard his voice all the same.

"My dear loyal brother and his good friend Wulfe, so kind of you to join me. Please come and sit."

With great hesitation the two fumbled through the smoke until they found two chair and sat down i them. Inside the cloud of smoke, Victarion could only see the shady outline of his brother, but that quickly changed when Euron leaned in and revealed his face. His blue lips were curled into a smile, and his single eye darted back and forth between the two of the,. It stopped on Wulfe, who stiffened in shock. Euron spoke up in a pleasant voice.

"Before we begin on our plan of attack, seeing as we will be reaching Meereen in a few days, the is a matter of great importance that I must speak of with you, Wulfe One-Eye. It is in regards to your loyalty to me."

"Your Grace, I have always been loyal to you."

"I know that, and that is why I also know that you will not mind doing a little something to prove to me that you are still loyal, right Wulfe?"

"What would you have me do, King Euron?" asked Wulfe with great reluctance.

Euron gave one of his charming smiles, that Victarion knew were laced with cruelty. Instantly he worried for the safety of his friend, but said nothing. He watched as Euron reached below his desk to pull out a well made dagger, with the hilt being the body of a woman. He handed the dagger to Wulfe and said,

"Would you please cut your palm with that dagger, if you don't mind?"

"What?"

Euron looked Wulfe straight in the eye and said in a calm voice,

"Make a cut on your palm with that dagger. How can I trust you if you aren't willing to bleed a little for me?"

Wulfe glanced at Victarion for a moment before he gritted his teeth and gave a quick slash to his left palm with Euron's dagger. Wulfe handed him back the dagger, which Euron took in silence. In fact he said nothing as Wulfe quietly wrapped up his palm in a rag. He and Victarion could only watch as suddenly Wulfe's body stiffened and began convulsing before falling to the ground, dead. Euron then rang a small bell and two mutes walked into the cabin and dragged Wulfe's corpse out.

"Did you know, little brother, that your old friend was planning a mutiny in your name? He and a few others were going to sneak aboard this ship and kill me in my sleep. They were planning on making you their new king. Did you know that?"

"With his mouth dry, Victarion couldn't answer, but then Euron laughed and shook his head,

"Of course you didn't know, you're too dumb and too loyal to even think of treason, let alone spell it."

"How did you?"

"How did I know Wulfe was planning on betraying me, or how did I kill him? The answers are quite simple actually."

Euron took out two vials, one large and one small. The larger one Victarion quickly recognized as Shade of the Evening, it's dark blue liquid swirling around. The other vial was much smaller, barely the size of Victarion's largest finger.

"This potion that the Warlocks of Qarth were so kind as to give it to me, amongst many other things, by way of the Iron Price allows me to see things. Not too unlike your new friend Moqorro now that I think about it. Tell me, what has that fire worshiper shown you in his flames?"

"A great wave, crashing over and dousing the flames of three dragons." answered Victarion quickly.

"Euron looked at him for a tense moment before smiling and nodding. He then motioned towards the smaller vial. It had a darker colored liquid in it.

"There is a snake, native only to the jungles deep in Sothoryos whose venom is so lethal, there is no known cure. If it enters your blood, you will die in less than a minute, like your friend Wulfe here. I only have a small amount, so I like to save it for very special occasions. Speaking of special, have you seen my new dagger? She's a real beauty, isn't she? A friend of mine saw the previous owner pick a fight with some Company of the Rose guy in the street of Braavos. He went to the temple where the body was and stole the dagger from the Tyroshi's corpse, and then I took it from his corpse. Of course, that was after he told me everything about the group that killed the Tyroshi, and you will never guess who was part of that group."

"Who was it?"

"My very own little dragon that we've been sailing up to meet. She's been in Braavos, or at least she was, this whole time. What are the chances?" answered Euron.

Victarion frowned. He had never understood his brothers obsession with the Targaryen girl, or even why he had attacked the Water Gardens in the first place. All Euron had said was that he was nearby, and he felt like it. Victarion was not one ot think too deeply about really anything, it wasn't one of his strengths. Everything eventually made some sort of sense, but Euron never did. Victarion's face must have shown his confusion, because Euron suddenly said,

"Tell you what brother, because I'm in a good mood, I'm going to give you what you've always wanted from me."

Victarion raised his eyebrows,

"You'll kill yourself?"

Euron gave a loud boisterous laugh for a few moments. Victarion just sat still and stared at this brother.

"Of course not. I'm far too important and things are far too interesting for me to do such a thing. No I was going to give you the answers to any question you had, but if you want that instead ... actually, let's make it a challenge."

With that Euron quickly applied a dose of the poison onto his dagger. He took of his left glove and placed his hand on the desk before spreading the fingers as far apart as they could go. He grabbed the dagger in his other hand and flipped it so it was facing downwards.

"You remember the five finger game we played when we were young, right brother? Let's add a little extra twist to it. If I survive, I will answer any question you have. But if I even barely nick myself, this here poison will kill me in less than a minute. Then I will be dead, and you will be King. Two things you've always wanted, let's see which one you want more."

Euron began moving the dagger back and forth, jabbing it into the wood in between his fingers. Victarion's eyes were transfixed upon the poisoned blade, not sure which outcome he wished for. He started to notice that the dagger was moving closer and closer to Euron's thumb on every pass. Euron didn't seem to notice, seeing as he had decided to stare Victarion right in the eye as he began to finish the song he muttered to keep time. Victarion could see the dagger about to strike Euron's thumb, and without thinking he shot his hand out and grasped Euron's wrist, stopping the blade from piercing the skin. For a long moment he stared at the dagger, unsure as to why he actually saved Euron's life.

"How very interesting. You had a chance to get your vengeance upon me in a way that no god or man would curse you for, and yet you chose to stop that from happening. Either way, a deal is a deal so ask away."

Shocked and disgusted at himself, Victarion pulled back and took a moment to collect his thoughts. Contrary to whatever his brother believed, Victarion wasn't an idiot or a dullard. It would be a cold day in the Seven Hells before he trusted any word that came from the Crow's Eye. Yet he now had a chance to at least get some of the truth from him. He asked,

"How long have you known where the Targaryen girl is, and why didn't you do anything about it?"

"I have spies and informants in almost every dock that touches the Narrow Sea and more. Fortunately for her sake, she managed to hide herself pretty well with the Company of the Roses, for whatever reason I don't know. I always suspected they were in the Free Cities somewhere, and my hunch was confirmed when they left for Valyria."

"But that was almost three years ago! Why did you not intercept them on the sea while they sailed to Valyria?" asked Victarion.

I wanted to see if they succeeded in making it to Valyria and what they found there. It's something I've never done. Of course during all this I was approached by that false Aegon Targaryen. Getting him and Connington to believe that they were the ones charge of our alliance was one of the easiest things I have ever done. It didn't surprise me that they failed in their attempts to bring Daenerys and her consort, whoever he is, under their heel. They actually saved me quite a bit of trouble, getting rid of those two. Of course, I did y part by sending a false message stating that we weren't going to make it to Meereen on time."

"Why did we wait," asked Victarion, "We were already in Astapor a few weeks after they stole the Unsullied. Why didn't we sail up the bay months ago, and on that note why did we hide our ships?"

Euron tapped on the Shade of the Evening.

"Thanks to this, I learned that Daenerys was pregnant with her consort's children, twins actually. So I decided to wait out her pregnancy in Astapor and Yunkai. I don't really care for pregnant women, you know? Anyway, they decided to send quite a bit of their forces home during this, and I was able to send some ships to follow them to their home. Thanks to a quick messenger, I've learned that the Roses have a very large castle about a weeks ride away from Braavos. To answer your other question, I knew that they would be looking for us, so I had all of our ship's sails be replaced with the sails of Astapor and Yunkai."

"How sure are you that Dragonbinder will actually work, brother? And in what world do you think that Daenerys will actually chose you? You did almost kill her when she was a child, and she already has a husband and two children."

Euron laughed before motioning once again to the Shade of the Evening.

"Because I've seen it brother. Every single time I drink this potion I always see it. I see the Dragon Queen and I sitting atop the black dragon with crowns on our heads and dragonbinder in my hands. I have seen the future brother, the future where I am the King of all of Westeros, and you, my loyal servant, as King of the Iron Islands."

"You are the King of the Iron Islands, not me. Why would you give up our family's chair?"

"I'll be trading it for a better one. Don't worry brother, I have a good bride in mind for you, one that I have no interest in. What do you think of Cersei Lannister, the current Queen of Westeros?"

"I thought that her youngest son was the King." said Victarion.

"Apparently he died. I don't know the fully story, but from what I have heard, he died under mysterious circumstances after the disappearance of the Kingslayer while he was on his way to Dorne. On your behalf I did give Queen Cersei an anonymous betrothal gift, if you don't mind."

"What was it?"

Euron didn't answer at first. He instead pulled out two small cups and placed them on the desk. He poured an equal amount of Shade of the Evening in both of them before speaking once more,

"I simply told her that her other brother Tyrion was hiding in that castle I told you about with the Company of the Roses. That mad lioness has probably sent an army to attack it any day now. And that concludes our questions brother. Now, drink with me and see the future as I see it."

Victarion had no choice but to drink down the strange and foreign liquid, and felt his eyes shut immediately. When he opened them he saw not Euron's vision of triumph, but one of absolute horror. The sea was gone, and upon the bottom of the now dry ocean floor lay the remains of thousands of Ironborn ships. The next thing Victarion saw were the Iron Islands on fire, with three enormous dragons burning the very land itself to ashes. One dragon turned toward him, and he felt the flames consume him.

When Victarion Greyjoy opened his eyes, he knew two things. The first was that time had passed, judging by the light from the window. The second was that Wulfe was right, Euron had to be stopped. Victarion pushed himself to his feet and strode outside with his Valyrian Steel axe in hand. He realized quite a bit of time had passed, seeing as they were right outside of Meereen. In the near distance three dragons were approaching the fleet, with armor over their scales and riders on each of their backs. He looked for Euron and found him standing at the front of the Silence with Dragonbinder in his hands. Victarion ran over to him and brought his axe up to finally bring it crashing down into his brother's skull.

Before he could do that, Euron took a deep breath and blew Dragonbinder. The low and dark noise rippled through the sea and shattered the air, bringing everyone around it to their knees in agony. Victarion looked up to see the dragons stop as if they hit a stone wall in the air.

Then all three dragons began to roar in unison with Dragonbinder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any thoughts, comments, or questions? Let me know down below. I will return to Part 3 soon so don't worry too much :)

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed it let me know down in the comments below.
> 
> Edit: Ok been seeing similar comments so just to let you all know Gryff is fAegon (Rhaenyra's Brother). Sorry for not making that clear


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